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THE  OPERA  SINGERS 


OPERA   SINGERS 

A  Pictorial  Souvenir 

WITH    BIOGRAPHIES    OF    SOME 

OF    THE    MOST    FAMOUS 

SINGERS  OF  THE  DAY 

BY 

GUSTAV    KOBBE 


Sri 

■v 


BOSTON 
OLIVER    DITSON    COMPANY 


DITSON  &  CO. 


LYON  &   111  \n 


run  \m  i  mi  \ 
I  .    DITSON  &   CO. 


Copyright,  MCM1 
By   Robert   Howard   Russell 

Copyright,  MCMIV 
By  Oliver   Ditson   Company 


:nt    9PARRELL    PHIN1      BOST<  m 


FOREWORD 

I  11 .11  'E  gathered  here  a  series  of  costume  and  other  portraits  of  the  grand  opera  sing- 
ers best  known  to  American   opera-goers  of  to-day.      'To  these  I  have  added  a  set  of 

pictures  taken  during  the  long  tours  made  by  the  Maurice  Grau  Company,  showing 
many  famous  singers  in  moments  of  relaxation  "on  the  road."  They  are  interesting 
as  giving  intime  glimpses  of  opera  folk  whom  the  public  has  seen  only  under  the  glare 
of  the  footlights  and  in  character.      Prima  donnas,  tenors,  baritones,  and  bassos  are 

seen  here  as  men  and  women.  As  a  whole  the  illustrations  in  this  hook,  many  from 
the  studio  of  Aime  Dupont,  are  believed  to  form  the  most  interesting  and  complete 
collection  of  its  kind  ever  published. 

IN  addition  to  these  pictures,  I  have  written  a  series  of  biographies  of  some  of  the 
most  famous  opera  singers  of  the  day  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  American  public. 
Possibly  the  most  interesting  fact  connected  with  the  majority  of  these  "  lives"  is  that 
they  are  absolutely  authentic,  the  facts  being  taken  down  from  the  lips  of  the  singers 
themselves.  For  this  new  and  enlarged  edition  I  have  added  the  biographies  of  Mile. 
Terruna  anil  Stg.  Caruso,  together  with  portraits  of  some  of  the  newcomers.  Somewhat 
anecdotal  {but  none  the  less  authentic)  is  the  "-Opera  Singers  Off  Duty  f  which  I 
have  added  to  the  biographies. 

LEST  the  above  should  not  fully  explain  the  limitations  as  well  as  the  scope  of  the 
hook,  I  desire  to  disclaim  any  attempt  at  a  critical  work.  The  book  is  intended  fore- 
most for  a  Pictorial  Souvenir,  and  I  have  considered  the  gathering  of  the  illustra- 
tions qude  as  important  a  part  of  my  task  [or  rather  pleasure)  as  the  preparation 
of  the  letterpress. 

MT  thanks  are  due  to  the  publishers  of  "  Harpers  Weekly"  and  the  "  Woman's 
Home  Companion  "for  permission  to  use  in  this  book  matter  which  I  have  contrib- 
uted to  these  periodicals. 

GUST  AT  KOBBE. 

New   York,    njii/ 


To 
Beatrice   Kobbe 


MME.  NORDICA 


HE  career  of  Mme.  Nordica  is  a  splen- 
did illustration  of  what  can  be  accom- 
plished through  the  union  ui  extraor- 
dinary natural  gitts  with  indomitable 
energy.  It  is  now  some  time  past 
since  this  artist  won  her  position  among 
the  great  prima  donnas.  Yet  not  tor 
a  moment  has  .she  relaxed  the  energy 
which  has  been  one  of  the  character- 
istics of  her  career  or  become  less  per- 
severing in  her  studies. 
SHE  is  internationally  famous,  and  one 
of  the  greatest  triumphs  or  her  artistic 
life  was  when  she  opened  the  Prinz 
Regenten  Theatre  in  Munich.  She,  an 
American  of  Americans,  was  the  hrst 
Isolde  and  E/sa  to  be  heard  in  that  German  house.  The  impression  she  cre- 
ated with  her  Isolde  was  so  profound  already  in  the  first  act,  that,  during  the 
intermission  the  manager  came  behind  the  scenes  and  engaged  her  for  the 
Brunnhilde  roles  next  year.  Not  very  long  ago  she  studied  Sieglinde  in  "  Die 
Walkure  "  with  "  Mine.  Cosima,"  Wag- 
ner's widow.  "  I  never  may  sing  the  role," 
she  said  to  me.  "  Hut  I  always  am  singing 
or  studying." 

A  BRUNNHILDE  or  an  Isolde  hardly  is 
associated  with  a  little  village  in  Maine. 
Vet  Maine  is  the  native  State  of"  Mine. 
Nordica,  as  it  is  of  two  other  great  Ameri- 
can prima  d  >nnas  —  Mine.  Eames  and  Annie 
Louise  Carey.  Mine.  Nordica  was  born  in 
Farmington,  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  in 
[859.  Her  parents  were  musical.  Her 
father,  as  a  boy,  played  surreptitiously  ^n  the 
violin.  He  had  been  forbidden  to  bring 
the  instrument  into  the  house,  because  his 
father  "thought  it  was  the  devil."  but  his 
mother,  more  lenient,  allowed  him  to  hide- 
it  in  nnv  of  the  lower  bureau-drawers,  and 
when  the  sterner  parent  was  out,  the  boy 
exhumed  his  beloved  fiddle  from  the  depths 
ot  the  bureau  and  revelled  in  its  sound.  I  le 
grew    up   to   have  a  tine   bass  voice,  ami    he 


married  a  girl  who  had  a  fine  soprano.  They  sang  in  church — the  only 
place  where  it  was  not  considered  sinful  to  sing.  Thus,  within  limitations 
it  is  true,  Lillian  Norton  (Mine.  Nordica's  real  name)  grew  up  in  a  musical 
atmosphere. 

SHE  had  an  elder  sister,  a  beautiful  girl  with  a  lovely  voice.  In  order  to  give 
her  the  advantages  of  a  good  musical  education,  the  parents  moved  with  their 
six  daughters  (there  were  no  sons)  to  Boston,  and  the  gitted   sister  was   placed 

under  the  instruction  of  John  O'Neill.  Lill- 
ian was  the  youngest  of  the  girls  and  "  a  per- 
fect torment,"  because  everything  the  sister 
learned  she,  too,  sang.  The  untimely  death 
of  the  elder  girl  caused  Lillian  to  he  placed 
with  Mr.  O'Neill.  This  teacher  was  an  Irish 
gentleman — a  scholarly  man  who  had  made  a 
profound  study  of  the  physiology  of  the  voice. 
On  her  first  trial  with  him  Lillian  sang  right 
up  to  high  C.  "  I  took  it  then  just  as  well 
as  now,"  she  says.  "  It  was  not  a  Do  of  the 
same  quality  as  now,  hut  it  was  just  as  sure." 
For  three  years  Mr.  O'Neill  instructed  her  in 
voice  emission.  She  went  at  her  work  with 
an  enthusiasm  which  has  never  left  her.  Her 
parents  had  no  idea  of  her  ever  going  on  the 
operatic  stage.  They  considered  the  life 
baneful.  But  Lillian  had  a  premonition  of 
the  career  ahead  of  her  ;  and  so,  although 
people  kept  asking  her,  "  Why  don't  you 
learn  to  sing  'pieces'?"  she  kept  right  on 
with  the  study  of  voice  emission.  She  seemed 
to  realize  that  a  solid  foundation  was  neces- 
sary to  her  lite-work.  Occasionally  she  sang 
in  church,  and  when  the  late  Ehen  Tourjee, 
of  Boston,  organized  a  choir  of  a  hundred 
voices,  she  joined  it  as  a  soloist.  Because  she 
could  sing  the  high  Do  they  sometimes  gave  the  "  Intiammatus  "  from  Ros- 
sini's "  Stabat  Mater,"  which  still  is  one  of  the  great  achievements  of  the  now 
famous  prima  donna.  At  seventeen  years  she  sang  "  The  Messiah  "  with  the 
Handel  and  Haydn  Society  of  Boston  ;  hut  she  was  engaged  for  only  part  of 
the  work,  another  soloist  finishing  out  the  concert. 

SHORTLY  afterward  came  the  turning-point  in  her  career.  Brignoli,  the 
famous  tenor,  gave  a  concert  in  Boston.  The  day  of  the  concert  the  soloist 
with  him  suddenly  was  taken  ill.  He  was  advised  to  "  go  and  get  Lillian 
Norton."  She  sang  at  the  concert,  and  he  was  so  delighted  with  her  voice  that 
he  advised  her  to  study  in  New  York  with  Mine.  Maretzek.  Accordingly, 
she  placed  herself  under  Mme.  Maretzek's  care  for  the  summer  months,  re- 


I. II  I  IAN     N< 


ceiving  instruction  in  operatic  arias.  When  autumn  came  she  decided  not  to 
go  back  to  Boston.  It  was  her  crossing  of  the  Rubicon.  Gilmore  was  giving 
concerts  with  his  band  at  the  Madison  Square  Garden,  and  one  morning,  while 
he  was  rehearsing  there,  Mme.  Maretzek  took  her  young  pupil  to  him  and 
asked  him  to  hear  her.  "Well,"  he  said,  "what  will  she  sing  ?  " 
"The  aria  from  '  Sonnambula,'  and  if    Mr.  Arbuckle  will  play  the  cornet  ob- 

ligato   '  See   the    Bright    Seraphim,'  '     answered 
Mme.  Maretzek. 

"  This  is  a  very  pale-looking  little  girl,"  said 
Gilmore.  "  But  let's  hear  her." 
THE  pale-looking  little  girl  sang  her  pieces  so 
nicely  that  the  bandmaster  decided  to  give  her  a 
chance  with  the  public.  "  Now,  little  girl, 
don't  be  afraid.  Just  sing  right  out,"  were  his 
words  as  he  handed  her  to  the  platform  the  first 
night.  She  made  a  "  nice  little  success." 
ABOUT  this  time  she  received  a  long  letter 
from  Mr.  O'Neill,  asking  if  this  was  what  she 
had  come  to — singing  with  a  brass  band — after 
the  high  aspirations  he  had  had  for  her.  But 
the  Gilmore  engagement  was  a  useful  stepping- 
stone  for  her.  He  made  her  an  offer  of  $  i  oo  a 
week,  and  her  own  and  her  mother's  expenses 
for  a  Western  tour,  and  also  engaged  her  when 
he  went  abroad  in  the  summer.  They  arrived 
in  Liverpool  a  little  before  eleven  o'clock  one 
morning  and  at  noon  gave  a-  concert  in  the 
Royal  St.  George's  Hall. 

AFTER  seventy-nine  concerts  in  England,  Lill- 
ian went  with  Gilmore  and  his  band  to  Paris 
— it  was  during  the  exposition  of  1878 — where 
they  opened  the  Trocadero,  hers  being  the  first 
voice  to  ring  out  there.  She  spent  the  summer 
in  Paris,  where  she  had  a  number  of  American 
pupils,  and  then  went  to  Milan  to  study  with  San  Giovanni,  telling  him  she 
wanted  to  go  on  the  operatic  stage.  He  asked  her  to  sing  several  arias  for 
him,  and  when  she  had  finished  he  said,  "  Well,  why  don't  you  go  ?  "  She 
explained  that  her  knowledge  of  Italian  was  too  limited  and  that  while  she 
could  sing  six  or  eight  arias  she  did  not  know  a  single  opera  all  through. 
"  We'll  attend  to  all  that,"  was  his  replv  ;  and  she  went  right  to  work  with 
him  and  in  three  months  was  ready  to  go  on  the  operatic  stage.  It  was  then 
she  adopted  the  stage  name  of  Nordica.  She  had  received  letters  from  home 
saving  she  was  going  to  drag  the  family  name  into  the  theatre  and  disgrace  it, 
so  she  talked  the  matter  over  with  San  Giovanni  and  he  suggested  Nordica, 
"  from  the  North." 


HER  operatic  debut  was  made  at  Brescia  in  "  Traviata."  For  five  nights  a 
week  during  an  engagement  of  three  months,  for  the  whole  of  which  she  re- 
ceived 5  i  oo  and  a  benefit  which  brought  in  two  hundred  livres,  or  about  56o, 
she  sang  nothing  but  "Traviata."  Other  nights  another  prima  donna  sang 
"  Sonnambula."  That  was  the  entire  repertoire  of  the  house  for  that  season. 
From  Brescia  Nordica  went  to  Novara  and  sang  Alice  in  "  Robert  le  Diable." 
The  little  theatre  was  not  heated.  The  dressing-room  had  stone  walls  and  it 
was  so  cold  she  used  to  carry  a  little  brazier  of  coals  with  her  from  her  lodg- 
ings to  the  theatre.      After  Novara,  she  sang  Alice  in  Genoa.      The  first  night, 

after  a  certain  phrase,  there  were  strong  hisses. 
For  an  instant  they  paralyzed  her.  Every- 
thing swam  around.  She  had  the  same  ex- 
perience tor  several  nights,  and  always  after 
the  same  phrase.  She  concluded  there  was 
something  wrong  with  her  pronunciation. 
Finally  one  night,  after  diligent  study  on  her 
part,  the  critical  moment  passed  without  a 
hiss  and  her  singing  of  the  aria  was  followed 
by  a  storm  ot  applause. 

IN  1S80  a  Russian  impressario,  who  came  to 
Italy  to  look  tor  voices  and  wanted  a  young- 
singer  tor  such  roles  as  Inez  in  "  L'Africaine  " 
and  The  <0>ueen  in  "  Les  Huguenots,"  offered 
her  an  engagement  for  St.  Petersburg  and 
.Moscow.  There  were  ten  or  twelve  roles 
to  be  learned  and  she  had  about  six  weeks  in 
which  to  master  them.  But  by  dint  of  ardu- 
ous study  at  a  time  when  the  heat  in  Milan 
was  intense,  she  prepared  herself  tor  the  en- 
gagement, which  was  continued  tor  another 
season,  and  led  to  her  appearance  at  the  Grand 
Opera,  Paris,  where  she  made  her  debut  as 
Marguerite  in  "  Faust,"  having  studied  the 
role  with  Gounod  himself. 

ALTOGETHER  she  sang  seven  months  at 
the  Opera,  and  her  success  there  led  Mapleson 
to  present  her  in  New  York.  This  was  in  [885.  She  did  not  make  much 
impression  one  way  or  the  other.  She  sang  onlv  tour  or  live  nights  and  then 
returned  to  London.  This  American  girl,  w  ho  hail  made  her  way  from  Brescia 
via  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow  to  Paris,  failed  at  this  time  to  conquer  the 
audiences  of  her  own  country.  When,  in  1SS-,  Mapleson  reopened  Covent 
Garden,  she  was  engaged  In  him.  The  house  had  been  closed  so  long  that  it 
was  miserably  cold  the  first  night,  and  Mine.  Nordica  longed  tor  hei  ' 
ot  coals  from  Novara.  [  ',--  ' 
the  performance  w  ith 


The  Prince  ot  Wales, 
overcoat  on. 


w  no  w  as  m  a  ho\. 


>razier 
sat  through 


AN  incident  in  her  career  at  this  time  was  her  singing  in  Sullivan's  "  Golden 
Legend  "  at  the  Royal  Alhert  Hall.  Mme.  Alhani,  who  was  to  have  sung,  had 
heen  taken  ill,  and  Sir  Arthur  was  so  annoyed  at  this  contretemps  that  when 
Mme.  Nordica  tried  to  have  him  coach  her  in  the  part,  he  told  her  friends 
that  he  was  "  not  going  to  have  any  more  of  these  singers  crammed  down  his 
throat."  However,  the  prima  donna  studied  according  to  her  own  lights  and 
made  a  great  success,  with  the  result  that  the  next  day  Sir  Arthur  called  on  her 
and  thanked  her  for  having  sung  his  music  "so  beautifully."  After  that  Mme. 
Nordica  sang  all  the  leading  oratorios  at  various  English  concerts  and  festivals 
— practically  without  any  instruction  in  them  other  than  what  she  had  received 
from  Air.  O'Neill.  This  scholarly  man  still  is  living  and  teaching  in  Boston, 
and  he  and  his  famous  pupil,  who  never  fails  to  acknowledge  her  indebtedness 
to  him  for  the  splendid  foundation  he  laid  for  her  career,  always  exchange 
pleasant  greetings  when  she  visits  that  city.  After  all,  he  had  not  trained  her 
for  a  brass  band. 

HER  next  operatic  experience  was  with  Sir  Augustus  Harris,  who  had  organ- 
ized a  large  company  for  Drury  Lane.  He  was  to  bring  out  two  men  who 
had  become  the  idols  of  Paris — Jean  and  Edouard  De  Reszke — and  any  num- 
ber of  well-known  people  from  Italy.  It  was  a  company  with  a  great  string 
of  names  in  it.  Mme.  Nordica  went  to  see  Sir  Augustus  about  an  engagement. 
"  Oh,  we  don't  want  you,"  he  said.  "  We  have  got  all  these  people,"  nam- 
ing them  over,  "  and  you  have  been  singing  at  cheap  prices  with  Mapleson." 
THE  next  night  they  opened  with  "Aida."  Jean  De  Reszke  sang  and  made 
a  furore,  but  the  prima  donna  had  more  tremolo  than  success.  For  the  next 
night  they  put  on  "  Robert  le  Diable,"  but  at  the  rehearsal  they  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  prima  donna,  who  had  quite  a  name  in  Italy,  would  not 
do.  St>  the  second  night  of  the  season  for  which  Sir  Augustus  had  said  to 
Mme.  Nordica,  "  We  do  not  want  you,"  she  was  sent  for  to  save  the  perform- 
ance. The  same  week  she  sang  "  Aida"  without  a  rehearsal.  The  following 
Sunday  she  was  sent  for  by  Sir  Augustus  to  come  to  Covent  Garden. 
"  Have  you  ever  sung  Valentine  in  '  Les  Huguenots'  ?  " 
"  No;    I  do  not  know  it." 

"  Still,  couldn't  you  learn  it  by  next  Saturday  night  r  " 
"  I  could  not  learn  a  part  like  that  in  a  week." 
"  Hut  you  must  do  it,  because  you  are  the  only  one." 
"  Well,  I  will  do  what  I  can."' 

AS  a  result,  she  was  ready  to  sing  the  role.  In  the  great  duet,  when  a  singer 
who  throws  herself  into  the  character  is  apt  to  be  carried  away  with  excite- 
ment, Edouard  De  Reszke  stood  in  the  wings  by  the  window,  and  when  she 
went  over  to  his  side  ot~  the  stage  he  would  call  out,  " Non  si  allegro!"  And 
when  she  went  over  to  Jean,  he  would  whisper,  "Pas  si  vitef"  That  was  to 
keep  her  in  check,  so  that  in  her  excitement  she  would  not  sing  too  fast  and 
arrive  at  the  climax  too  soon,  "with  her  tongue  hanging  out,"  to  quote  her 
own  words.  Mme.  Nordica  often  has  sung  at  Covent  Garden  since  then.  In 
1890   she   made  her    reappearance    in   America    at    the    Metropolitan    Opera 


House,  singing  "Aula."  Over  seven  years  had  elapsed  since  she  had  been 
heard  at  the  Academy  of  Music  and  had  tailed  to  make  an  impression.  They 
had  been  seven  years  of  steady  progress,  and  her  success  on  her  reappearance 
w  as  very  great. 

SOME  ten  years  ago,  after  one  of  the  London  seasons,  several   members  of  the 

opera  company,  including  Mine.  Nordica, 

the    I)e   Reszkes,   and    Lasalle,  concluded 

jg^r*.  that    the\    would  go  to   Bavreuth    and    -;ee 

jP^SJ^j^i    .  what    it    was   like.       \\  hen    they    reached 

there  the  men  in  the  party  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  rinding  accommodations,  hut 
Edouard  and  Lasalle  tramped  all  over 
the  town  to  secure  lodgings  tor  Mme. 
Nordica  and  her  mother.  Finally  they 
found  rooms  in  a  girls'  school.  Next 
day  they  went  to  the  theatre,  and  the 
first  performance  they  heard  was  "  Die 
Meistersinger."  After  the  first  act  they 
came  out  and  began  making  tun  ot  it. 
"  They  call  that  music  !  "  exclaimed  }ean. 
"  It  is  barbarous  to  ask  a  tenor  to  sing 
such  a  role  as  Walther"  (He  sings  it 
beautifully  himself  now.)  Then  they 
heard 


more  strange. 


>arsifal,"     which     seemed    even 
The   last  performance  was 


"Tristan  und  Isolde."  When  they  came 
out  of  the  theatre  Mme.  Nordica  said, 
"  Mother,  I  am  going  to  sing  here  some 
day."  The  prima  donna  was  impressed 
by  the  performance.  Jean  thought  Tris- 
tan pretty  heavy  tor  the  tenor.  Hut  some- 
thing had  sunk  into  them  all.  They  were 
beginning  to  realize  what  there  was  in 
the  Wagnerian  music-drama. 
THE  prima  donna  became  acquainted 
with  Mme.  Cosima  in  [892.  She  stud- 
ied with  her  Venus  \\\  "  Tannhauser,"  with  such  success  that  she  was  requested 
to  be  the  Bav reuth  E/sa  the  following  summer.  During  the  New  ^  ork  season 
Mine.  Nordica  studied  German  every  day.  She  went  to  Hav  reuth  early  in 
Ma\  and  studied  and  rehearsed  there  three  months.  She  had  twentj  six 
rehearsals  with  orchestra,  and  posed  over  an  hour  in  the  balconj  scene  while 
various  li<rht  effects  were  tried  so  thorough  are  they  in  Havrcuth. 
HER  great  success  in  the  Wagnerian  stronghold  made  a  deep  impression  in 
operatic  circles,  anil  when  she  returned  here  in  the  winter  she  was  able  to  per- 
suade  Jean  to  learn"  Lohengrin"  in  German.     Seidl  then  suggested  "Tristan 


und  Isolde."  Mine.  Nordica  went  to  Bayreuth  to  study  Isolde  with  Mine. 
Cosima.  An  outsider  cannot  imagine  the  strain  imposed  on  an  operatic  artist 
by  taking  up  at  a  certain  point  in  her  career  a  new  role  in  a  new  language. 
The  question  of  physical  endurance  is  an  important  one.  From  ten  in  the 
morning  until  one  in  the  afternoon,  and  again  from  three  until  five,  the  prima 
donna  studied  with  Mine.  Wagner  in  a  little  room,  where  she  was  drilled  just 
as  if  it  were  a  stage.  The  pronunciation  or  a  single  word  would  be  gone  over 
as  often  as  3,000  times.  When  the  studies  for  the  day  were  finished,  Mine. 
Nordica  was  so  exhausted  she  would  go  straight  to  bed. 

THE  two  De  Reszkes,  who  were  to  sing  Tristan  and  King  Mark,  were  drilled 
by  a  Bayreuth  repetiteur;  and  when  the  three  singers  met  in  New  York  with 
Anton  Seidl,  who  had  secured  a  room  at  a  hotel  where  they  would  not  be 
disturbed,  and  they  started  in  with  the  great  scenes  between  Tristan  and  Isolde, 
they  fitted  right  in  like  hand  in  glove.  "  I  never  shall  forget  how  deeply 
Anton  Seidl  was  moved,"  said  Mine.  Nordica  to  me  in  describing  her  experi- 
ence. "  We  all  felt  that  we  were  starting  out  on  this  new  race  side  by  side, 
with  every  nerve  and  every  thought  on  the  alert.  But  it  was  a  great  strain. 
Seidl  came  to  me  early  one  morning  to  go  over  my  role  with  me,  and  he  left 
me  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  having  gone  over  the  acting  to  the 
minutest  detail.  I  had  to  rest  for  two  days.  Every  noise,  every  sound,  brought 
up  something  from  '  Tristan  und  Isolde.'  ' 

FINAELY,  the  night  for  the  performance  arrived.  Seidl  came  up  to  Mine 
Nordica  and  the  De  Reszkes  and  said,  reassuringly  :  "  Keep  calm.  Nothing  can 
happen  to  you.  You  know  what  you  have  to  do,  and  I  am  down  there  in 
the  orchestra."  But  having  related  this,  Mine.  Nordica  added,  "  Nevertheless, 
no  one  can  know,  and  I  never  can  tell,  what  it  felt  like  to  lie  on  that  couch 
and  hear  the  prelude  progressing  bar  after  bar  and  the  sign  given  tor  the  cur- 
tain to  go  up.      They  were  awful  moments." 

WITH  her  Isolde  triumph,  which  occurred  in  November,  1895,  Mine.  Nor- 
dica's  career  reached  its  high-water  mark,  and  there  she  has  maintained  herself 
ever  since.  She  is  the  perfect  embodiment  of  the  character.  She  also  is  a 
great  Brunnhilde,  and,  not  to  mention  her  Donna  Elvira  in  "  Don  Giovanni," 
her  Valentine  or  her  Aida,  but  to  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  the  operatic 
pole,  an  impassioned  Leonora  in  "  Trovatore."  Practically  the  whole  range  of 
the  repertoire  is  hers. 

THE  lesson  of  her  career  is  that  from  the  very  start  she  steadily  has  progressed 
toward  the  highest  ideal.  She  was  not  content  to  remain  a  mere  prima 
donna — to  continue  a  Violetta,  a  Marguerite ■,  or  even  an  Elsa.  It  was  on  and 
ever  on.  From  "  Traviata  "  rive  times  a  week  in  a  little  Italian  opera  house, 
from  the  brazier  of  coals  at  Novara  to  Isolde  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera 
House,  is  a  far  cry  ;  but  Mme.  Nordica  has  covered  all  the  ground  between. 
There  has  been  no  relaxing  energy,  no  resting  upon  well-earned  laurels.  Her 
career  has  been  an  honor  to  herself,  to  the  operatic  stage  and  to  the  country 
which  is  proud  to  call  her  its  own. 


MME.    CALVE 

FASCINATING  Calve!  Mention  oi~  her  name  at  once  recalls  the 
dark-haired,  dark-eyed  Spanish  gypsy,  Carmen,  with  the  huge  crimson 
flower  thrust  in  her  raven  hair.  She  is  the  Carmen  par  excellence. 
Americans  always  will  measure  other  Carmens  by  her,  just  as  those 
who  saw  Edwin  Booth  as  Hamlet  measure  all  other  Hamlets  by  him. 
AND  vet  the  perversity  of  Man  !  When  she  was  rehearsing  tor  her  first  ap- 
pearance as  Carmen  at  the  Opera  C'omique,  in  Paris,  and  introducing  those 
little  hits  of  stage  business  and  those  dramatic  vocal  changes  that  were  to 
astonish  a  world,  which  believed  itself  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  opera,  she 
was  constantly  interrupted  and  corrected  by  the  stage  manager.  He  had  seen 
many  Carmens,  he  had  his  idea  o\  how  the  role  should  he  done — the  purely 
conventional  acceptation  of  the  character — and  he  wanted  her  to  act  it  and 
sing  it  according  to  his  idea. 
Mine.  Calve  simply  continued 
rehearsing  according  to  her 
own  idea.  Result,  the  director 
was  appealed  to  by  the  stage 
manager  and  called  in  to  wit- 
ness a  rehearsal.  "  Oh,  let  her 
alone,"  he  said.  "  She  knows 
nothing  about  the  role  and  will 
rind  it  out  to  her  griet  at  the 
first  performance.  It  will  he  a 
good  lesson  tor  her."  Hut  at 
the  first  performance  there 
hurst  upon  an  astonished  world 
a  new  Carmen — the  Carmen  she 
has  heen  ever  since. 
I  ONCE  heard  someone  argu- 
ing with  Mine.  Calve  that  she 
made  a  mistake  in  wearing  the 

gorgeous  red  silk  petticoat  in  the  first  act — that  a  gypsy  cigarette  girl  could 
not  afford  to  dress  so  richly.  The  prima  donna  gave  one  ol  her  fascinating 
shoulder  shrugs.  "  When  1  decided  to  sing  Carmen,"  she  replied,  "  I  went  to 
Seville,  the  very  [dace  where  the  scene  ot  the  opera  is  laid,  to  make  studies  on 
the  spot.  I  often  stood  outside  the  cigarette  factories  and  watched  the  girls 
comin  \  to  and  going  from  their  work.  On  one  occasion  I  followed  one  ot 
them  to  a  second-hand  COStumer's,  ami  saw  her  buy  a  brilliant  red  skirt.  The 
next  day  she  wore  it,  and  occasionally  lilted  her  dress  a  little  so  as  to  give  a 
glimpse  of  the  skirt  and  flirt  with  it.  I  went  directly  to  tin-  same  costumer 
and  bought  the  exact  duplicate  ot'  the  skirt.  I  have  it  on  now  ,  and  as  soon  as 
Vim  see  me  go  on  the  stage-  you  will  see  that  I  flirt  with  it  |iist  as  I  saw  the 
cigarette  girl  in  Seville  do."       It   is  just  as  well  not  to  call  the  work  ol  an  artist 


like  Mine.  Calve  in  question.  Were  I  to  sug- 
gest that  Marguerite  s  dropping  of  her  prayer- 
book  in  surprise  and  contusion  on  her  first 
meeting  with  Faust  was  somewhat  theatrical, 
although  subtly  symbolical  of  Faust's  influence 
on  her  life,  I  should  be  afraid  of  being  told  by 
Mine.  Calve  that  she  had  seen  Gretchen  do  the 
very  same  thing. 

ACCORDING  to  the  best  authorities,  Mine. 
Calve,  whose  baptismal  name  is  Emma  Roquer, 
was  born  at  Decazeville,  near  Aveyron,  in 
i  866.  Her  father,  a  Spaniard,  was  a  civil  engi- 
neer. She  attended  school  in  a  convent,  and  it 
is  said  that  her  singing  of  the  "  Ave  Marias  " 
and  other  solos  in  the  convent  musical  services 
attracted  the  attention  of  a  Parisian,  who  after 
her  father's  death  urged  her  mother  to  send  her 
to  Paris  for  a  musical  education.  She  studied 
with  a  tenor  named  Puget  and  with  Laborde, 
and  made  her  debut  at  the  Theatre  de  la  Mon- 
naie,  Brussels,  as  Marguerite  in  "  Faust  "  in 
i  88  i .  She  remained  at  Brussels  during  this  and 
lowing  season,  receiving  about  as  much  for  a  whole  season's  work  as  she 
now  does  tor  a  single  night. 

AFTER  appearances  at  the  Theatre  Italien  with  decided  success,  she  placed 
her>elf  under  Mine.  Marchesi's  tuition, 
and  then  made  a  tour  of  Italy.  While 
gaining  additional  experience  as  a  singer 
on  this  tour,  she  seems  also  to  have  prof- 
ited dramatically,  especially  as  she  saw 
Duse,  by  whom  she  was  greatly  impressed. 
To  say,  however,  that  she  copies  Duse 
(as  Santuzza  in  "  Cavalleria  Rusticana," 
for  instance)  is  wholly  erroneous.  A 
singer  whose  gestures  and  facial  expres- 
sion are  necessarily  limited,  because  effec- 
tive emission  ot  the  singing  voice  is  the 
chief  aim  on  the  operatic  stage,  may  de- 
rive a  general  impression  ot  a  role  or  a 
general  idea  ot  the  art  ot  acting  from  a 
great  actress,  but  copy  her  she  absolutely 
cannot.  Mine.  Calve  is  a  woman  ot  dra- 
matic instincts,  and  when  she  saw  Duse 
she  promptly  felt  dramatic  passion,  which 
hitherto    had    lain    dormant,   stir   within 


the  fi 


Emma    Cai  ve 


her.  Her  creation  ot  the  role  of  Suzi  in  Mas- 
cagni's  "  L'Amico  Fritz,"  at  Rome  in  1S91, 
added  greatly  to  her  reputation,  and  in  1892, 
when   the  same   composer's  "Cavalleria    Rusti- 


cana  "   had   its   first    ht 


P 


arts, 


sh 


e   was 


chosen  for  the  Santuzza,  and  made  a  phenome- 
nal success,  showing  the  study  she  had  made  of 
the  Italian  people,  and  the  result  of  some  valu- 
able suggestions  from  the  composer  himself. 
She  repeated  the  role  with  great  success  in 
London. 

ECHOES  of  Mine.  Calve's  great  European  suc- 
cesses reached  this  country  during  the  season  of 
1892  and  1893,  when,  owing  to  the  destruction 
of  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  by  tire,  there 
were  no  performances  there.  Hut  during  the 
following  season,  when  the  opera-house  opened, 
Mme.  Calve  was  a  member  of  the  company, 
and  made  her  New 
York  debut  November 
29,  1  893,  as  Santuzza. 

Her   realistic   power  in  the  role  was  rec- 
ognized, but  it  remained  tor  her  to  make 

one  of  the  greatest  successes  known  in  the 

operatic   history  ot    this  country  as   Car- 
men.   The  opera  was  given  thirteen  times 

that  season,  and  each  time  at  receipts  close 

to   the  $10,000  mark.      At  her   farewell 

performance  of  "  Carmen  "  tor  the  season, 

on  April   27th,  such  a  demonstration  was 

made  over  her  that  she  came  forward  and 

said,  in  French  :  "  I  shall  never  forget  that 

to  the  American  public  I  owe  the  greatest 

success  of  my  career.      I  hope   that  I  am 

not  saving  good-by,  but  only  au  revoir." 

THERP2    had    been    some   dissensions    in 

the  company,  and  next  season  she  was  not 

here.     But  in  November,  189^,  she  made 

her    reappearance    in  "  Carmen,"   and    in 

December  gave  her  first  performance  here 

of  Ophelie  in  Ambroise  Thomas's  "  Ham- 
let," showing  unsuspected  equipment  as  a 

singer  pure  and  simple,  but   at  the  same 

time   combining  with  her  vocalization    a 

remarkable   significance   ot'  dramatic  ex- 


pression.  Thus  in  the  nvad  scene,  which  as  for- 
merly heard  here  had  served  merely  as  a  vehicle 
tor  vocal  pyrotechnics,  she  was  brilliantly  suc- 
cessful vocally,  but  by  certain  shadings  and  a 
remarkable  variety  of  tone-coloring  also  subtly 
conveyed  the  dramatic  meaning  of  what  she  was 
singing  so  superbly.  During  the  same  season  she 
was  heard  as  Anita  in  Massenet's  "  La  Navar- 
raise,"  and  as  Marguerite  in  Boito's  "  Mefis- 
tofele,"  a  beautiful  performance.  During  the 
following  season  she  appeared  as  Marguerite 
in  "  Faust,"  and 
gave  a  wholly 
original  i  n  ter- 
pretation  of  the 
role,  fascinating 
in  the  earlier  scenes  and  highly  dramatic  in 
the  more  tragic  episodes. 

UNLESS,  however,  Mine.  Calve  should  cre- 
ate a  great  furore  in  some  role  in  which  she 
has  not  yet  been  heard  here,  Carmen  is  apt  to 
remain  more  closely  identified  with  her  career 
than  any  other  character,  and  this  may  he  be- 
cause, in  addition  to  her  vocal  and  dramatic 
equipment,  she  seems  physically  perfectly  fitted 
to  it.  To  watch  her  lithe  form  swaying  in 
the  "Habenera,"  or  the  "  Seguidilla,"  while 
her  dark  eyes  and  her  gestures  express  every 
shade  ol  meaning  in  the  words  she  sings,  and 
her  plastic  voice  allows  no  opportunity  for  ar- 
tistic musical  effect  to  pass  by,  is  an  experience 
always  to  he  remembered. 

PERSONALLY,  she  is  said  to  he  a  curious 
combination  ot  the  developed  woman  and  the 
simple  girl,  and  highly  impulsive,  but  with  the 
saving  grace  that  her  impulses  usually  are 
kind,  she  seems  to  be  spiritualistically,  the- 
phistically,  and  astrologically  inclined — in 
fa<  i,  a  thoroughly  superstitious  being.  Noth- 
ing can,  lor  instance,  induce  her  to  appear  without  an  amulet 
which  she  wears  around  her  neck.  Yes,  Calve  is 
theatre. 

\  I'  EW  years  ago  she  had  her  tomb  designed,  explaining  that  she  shuddered  to 
think  of  the  possibility  of  being  buried  amid  inartistic  surroundings,  also  that 
she  did  not  wish  to  give  her  mother  the  trouble  of  having  a  headstone  made 


rom  1 1  indostan, 

i   thorough   (  hild  of  the 


there  were  any,  not  even  it  a 
tu  11  orchestra  played  a  Wagner 
overture,  although  it  they 
struck  up  the  "  Habenera,"  I 
am  not  so  sure  but  that  I 
should  come  out  and  sing;  it 
for  them." 

THE  roles  I  have  mentioned 
are  the  ones  in  which  this 
wonderful  woman  is  best 
known  in  this  country,  but 
abroad  she  sings  a  much  larger 
repertoire,  including  Masse- 
net's "  L'Herodiade,"  which  is 
one  of  her  "Teat  characters. 
HERE  is  one  of  Mme.  Calve's 
characteristic  remarks:  "There 
are  rive  girls  ot  us  in  our  fam- 
ily. I  am  the  homeliest." 
Fascinating  Calve  ! 


for  her.     She  had  the  tomb  designed 
by   Denys   Puech,   and    its    principal 
features  are   the    two    statues  ot    the 
prima   donna   herself  which  rlank  it, 
one  as    Opbelie  and  the  other  as  Car- 
men.    The  Ophelie  shows  the  hapless 
heroine  being  drawn  toward  the  void 
by  phantom  voices.     It  is  intended  to 
show    the    ethereal     side    ot     Mme. 
Calve's  art,  while  Carmen  shows  the 
material.      "  Both   are   tragic    roles," 
she    says   in    speaking  oi  her    tomb, 
"  but  then  death  is  not  amusing — ex- 
cept possibly  to   one's  heirs.      I  shall 
have    it    erected    either    in    Pere    la 
Chaise  or  on  the  ground  surrounding 
my  chateau   in  the  south  of  France. 
Either    place,    I     suppose,    would    be 
peaceful  enough,  though  I  take  it  tor 
granted  I  would  not  hear  any  noise  it 


wiicii    al 


EMMA  KAMES 

BEAUTY    is  one  of  the  greatest  aids  to  stage  success.      But 
possible  paeans  in  its  praise   have  been  sung,  it  remains,  after  all,  only 
an  aid. 
THEREFORE    no  artist,  even  if  she  be  a  woman,  cares  to  have  her 
physical  attributes  dwelt  upon  at   too  great  length,  since  it   makes   her  artistic 
gifts  seem   of  secondary   importance.      But  in   the  case  of   Mme.    Karnes,   her 
pulchritude  is  so  obvious  and  adds  so  much  to  the  charm  of  her  performances 
that  it  cannot  be  dismissed  with  the  mere  statement  that  she  is  beautiful.      When 
she  appeared  in  New  York  tor  the  first  time  as  Aida,  she  dressed  the  role  in  an 
entirely  new  and  picturesque  stvle.     The  soft  draperies  of  her  costume  were  in 
dull  oriental  tones,  blending  so  exquisitely  and  so  harmonizingly  with  her  per- 
sonality  that  hail  she   gone  through  the  entire  opera   without   singing  a   note 
she  still  would  have  been  an  entrancing  Aida.      There  was  not  a  critic  who  did 
not  speak  of  her   perfect   physical   fulfilment  oi  the  role,  and  ni  her  costume. 
In  selecting  this,  she  doubtless  was  somewhat  guided  by  the  taste  of  her  artist 
husband,   Julian  Story,  a  son  of  Nathaniel    Hawthorne's  friend,  W.  W.  Story, 
the   sculptor,  whom   the  great    romancer    visited   in 
Rome,  and  who,  it  is  believed,  was  not  without  in- 
fluence in  inspiring   "The  Marble  Faun." 
HORN   in  Shanghai,  China,   where  her  father   prac- 
tised law  in  the  international   courts,  she   passed  her 
childhood  in  Bath,  Me.,  with  her  grandparents.      Her 
mother,  an  excellent  musician,  and  gitted  with  a  fine 
voice,  taught  music  in  Portland.    To  her  judicious  in- 
fluence Mme.  Ivames  owes  much.      The  mother  was 
too  good  a  musician  not  to  realize  that  her  daughter 
possessed  an  unusual  voice,  but  she  did  not  allow  her 
to  begin  cultivating  it  until  she  was  rirteen  years  old, 
for  she  knew  that  too  early  training  is  apt   to   strain 
the  voice.      Twice  a  week    Emma  went   from    Rath 
to    Portland    ami    received    instruction     from     her 
mother.      Then,  when    the   latter    realized    that    the 
daughter's  talent  was  capable  of   greater  development, 
she  arranged  for   her  to  stay   in   Boston   with    Miss 
Munger,  an  excellent  teacher.      Emma's  mother  did 
not  wish   to  take  upon  herself   the  responsibility  of 
cultivating  her  daughter's  voice.      She  did  not  trust 
herself  sufficiently,  for  she  appreciated  the  difficulty 
of  teaching  in  one's  own  family.      Still  she  had  done 
very  well   by  the  girl,  for  she  hail   most   judiciousl) 
avoided  the  risk  of  ruining  her  voice  by  too  early 
application.      In    Bath    the\    knew,  of    course,  thai 


Emma  sant 


and  tney  persuadec 


led  her  to  sing  in  church 


and  at  private  musicales;  but  as  soon  as  the  mother  heard  of  it  she  put  a 
stop  to  it.  < 

THE  future  prima  donna  studied  three  years  with  Miss  Munger.  After  a 
while  she  began  to  sing  professionally,  making  such  excellent  progress  that  she 
was  engaged  for  the  first  soprano  in  Schumann's  "  Manfred,"  with  the  Boston 
Symphony  orchestra,  under  Gericke,  and  also  sang  with  George  Osgood,  B.  J. 

Lang,  and  Professor  Paine,  of  Harvard.  The 
hitter  gave  a  series  of  lectures  in  Boston  on  old 
church  music.  The  young  singer  took  the  so- 
prano part  in  the  musical  illustrations  to  these, 
^^  learning  to  read  the  old-fashioned  square  notes. 

^^^  It  was  a  splendid  experience  for  her.       Professor 

Paine  is  a  charming  man,  and  he  encouraged 
her  in  every  way,  explaining  the  history  and 
different  forms  of  music  to  her,  and  giving  per- 
sonal attention  to  her  study  of  the  illustrations 
to  his  lectures.  To  this  experience  she  owes  a 
foundation  in  the  classics  for  which  she  always 
has  been  grateful.  Though  she  now  sings 
Italian,  French  and  Wagner  roles,  she  still  re- 
mains true  to  her  early  loves,  the  classics,  as 
witness  her  purity  of  style  in  the  Mozart  operas. 
Her  Pamina  in  the  great  revival  of  Mozart's 
"Magic  Flute,"  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera 
House,  then  under  Grau,  was  a  perfect  example 
of  the  serene  and  chaste  style  of  singing  de- 
manded by  classic  roles.  "To  this  day,"  she 
once  said  to  me,  "  I  am  deeply  moved  by  Beet- 
hoven's svmphonies,  and  Mozart  I  seem  to  sing 
by  intuition." 

BUT  festina  lente  I     At  this  point  of  my  story 
she   still    is   a   young    girl    studying   with    Miss 
Munger  in  Boston.       In  addition  to  her  concert 
engagements    there,   she  secured   a    position    in 
church.      She  became  very  popular,  but  she  did  not  realize  this  until  many  years 
later,  when  she  returned  to  Boston    to   sing    an   opera.      She  was  then  told  by 
members  of  the  congregation  that  whenever  it  was  known  that  she  was  to  sing 
there  always  had  been  several  hundred   people   more  in   church   than  on  other 
occasions.      "I  never  imagined  until  then  that  that  crowd  was  for  me,"  she  re- 
marked with  delightful  naivete,  in  telling  me  about  it.      During  these  early  years 
of  study  Emma  Fames  had  shown  the  same  aptitude  in  learning  which  has  been  a 
characteristic  of  her  career.      "  I  never  had  to  be  told  anything  twice.      When  I 
went  to  Paris,  which  I  did  after  my  three  years  in  Boston,  I  became  livid  with 
anger  and  felt  humiliated  if  they  tried  to  tell  me  more   than  once  what  to  do 
and  what  not  to  do.      I  never  have  had  to  study  the  lessons  of  life  twice." 


y 


■%■„ 


, 


«, 


•i 


Emma   Eames 


IN  Paris  she  studied  voice  with  Marchesi  and 
stage  deportment  with  Plugue.  After  two 
years  with  Mine.  Marchesi,  there  was  a  va- 
cancy at  the  Opera.  They  wanted  some  one 
for  the  role  or  Juliette  in  Gounod's  "  Romeo 
et  Juliette."  Jean  de  Reszke  was  to  make 
his  dehut  as  Romeo,  and  altogether  it  was  to 
he  quite  an  event.  Emma  had  studied  several 
operas  with  Mme.  Marchesi  and  had  thor- 
oughly gone  over  the  role  of  "Juliette  with  her. 
Gounod  himself  coached  her  tor  six  weeks. 
But  after  a  trial  at  the  Opera  she  was  refused. 
The  verdict  was  that  her  high  notes  were  not 
easilv  placed  and  were  not  agreeable.  It  was 
a  terrible  disappointment,  both  to  the  young 
singer  and  to  Mme.  Marchesi.  The  prima 
donna's  opinion  of  this  teacher,  who  is  so 
famous,  is  interesting.  Here  it  is  in  her  own 
words  as  given  to  me:  "Mme.  Marchesi  is 
a  thoroughly  good  musician,"  she  said.  "  Any 
one  who  goes  to  her  with  an  established  voice 
can  learn  a  great  deal  from  her  in  the  in- 
terpretation of  many  roles.  She  is  an  admirable  teacher  ol  expression  and 
of  the  general  conception  of  a  character.  As  a  drill  master  she  is  altogether 
admirable.  She  teaches  you  the  value  of  utilizing  your  time,  and  she  makes 
you  take  a  serious  view  of  your  work,  which  is  important,  for  hardly  an 
American  girl  who  goes  to  her  has  an  idea  of  studying  seriously.  She  also  is 
capital  at  languages.  But  when  it  comes  to  voice  development,  I  consider  that 
she  fails.  My  voice  naturally  was  broad  and  heavy.  After  the  end  of  the 
first  two  years'  studv  with  her  I  could  not  sing  A  without  difficulty.  She  did 
not  seem  to  know  how  to  make  my  voice  light.  It  was  getting  heavier  and 
les^  flexible  all  the  time." 

AFTER  her  rejection  by  the  Opera,  the  young  singer  went  to  Brussels,  but 
through  intrigue  on  the  part  of  some  one  who  constantly  professed  the  great- 
est interest  in  her,  a  debut  there  also  was  refused  her.  Returning  to  Paris,  she 
at  last  closed  an  engagement  with  the  Comique.  She  was  to  sing  "Traviata," 
but  after  she  had  prepared  for  her  debut  she  was  told  that  she  could  not  be 
allowed  to  make  her  first  appearance  in  such  an  important  role.  Then  she 
studied  Bizet's  "  Les  Pecheurs  Des  Perles."  But — "  We  can't  trust  this  in  the 
hands  of  a  debutante."  She  was  at  sea,  until  she  learned  that  a  French  com- 
poser was  using  his  influence  with  the  directors  to  prevent  her  debut  and  in 
favor  of  another  singer. 

IN  the  midst  of  this  distressing  situation  she  received  an  offer  from  the  Opera. 
What  to  do  r  Here  was  an  offer  that  would  at  once  start  her  on  her  career. 
Yet  she  was  bound  hv  contract  to   Paravey  ot   the  Comique.      She  asked  him 


for  my  contract  and 


have  done  what  I've 


rench   perversity — 

The 


morning 


next 

for    the   Opera 


for  a  release,  but  the  singer  for  whom  intrigue  had  secured  a  debut  had  utterly 

tailed,  and  the  young  American  was  told  that  now  she  was  to  have  her  chance. 

The  opening  of  the  Exposition  was  approaching  and  the  manager  thought  that 

having  the  only  American  singer  would  be  a  feather  in  his  cap.      she  insisted 

that  she  wished  to  he  released.      He  was  obdurate.      Finally,  at  a  meeting  of 

the  directors,  she  walked  into  the  cabinet  and  said: 

"  Now  I  want  to  know  it'  you  will  let  me  off." 

"We  are  paving  you  for  not  singing,"  was  the  reply. 

"  I  am  not  going  to  leave  this  room   until  you  have  sent 

torn  it  up  before  my  eves." 

"This  is  not  the  time.      Come  hack  to-morrow." 

"  I  am  not  coming  hack,  for  I   am   not   going  until  you 

asked   you   to  do." 

AS   a  result    of  her    firm    stand — American    pluck    versus 

her    contract    was    sent     for    anil     torn     up    in    the    directors'    meeting. 

Paravey     read     the     announcement     that     .she     was     engaged 
He  was  furious. 

EMMA  EAMES  made  her  debut  at  the  Opera 
in  March,  iSSg,  as  "Juliette,  scoring  a  great  suc- 
cess, although  coming  immediately  after  I'atti 
in  the  role.  The  day  after  her  debut — remem- 
ber, the  day  after  her  very  first  appearance  on 
the  operatic  stage — she  received  a  cablegram 
from  Sir  Augustus  Harris,  practically  offering 
her  any  sum  within  reason  which  she  might  ask. 
As  a  result,  her  salary  at  the  Opera  immediately 
was  doubled.  This  seems  to  have  been  doing 
pretty  well  tor  the  second  day  of  her  career. 
I  hiring  her  engagement  at  the  Opera  she  created 
De  La  Nux's  "/aire,"  ami  also  St.  Saens's 
"Ascanio,"  the  two  De  Reszkes  and  Plancon 
also  singing  in  the  latter.  At  the  Opera  there 
began  a  charming  friendship  between  the  young 
American  singer  and  these  three  great  artists 
which  has  continued  ever  since.  Practically 
they  have  always  been  in  the  same  companies. 
Whenever  Plancon  and  Mme.  Eames  step  out 
upon  the  stage  together  he  always  whispers  to 
her  just  as  they  are  leaving  the  wings:  "  Now 
they  are  going  to  see  the  two  most  beautiful 
noses  in  the  company."  W  hat  a  pretty  glimpse 
this  gives  ot  lite  behind  the  scenes! — this  com- 
pliment ol  tlie  prince  ot  basses  chant  ants,  a  compliment  in  which  naively  he 
in<  hides  himselt. 
FROM    the  Opera   Fames  went  to   London.       There,  in    April,    1891,  she  sang 


ill  "  Lohengrin  "  without  an  orchestral  rehearsal,  except  for  one  scene  with 
Jean  and  Edouard,  and  appeared  in  Gounod's  "  Mireille  "  without  any  rehearsal 
at  all.  Among  the  operas  she  appeared  in  was,  of  course,  "  Romeo  et  Juliette," 
and  while  "  Romeo  et  Juliette"  was  going  on  at  the  Opera,  it  also  was  going 
on  somewhere  else,  for  it  was  at  that  time  Emma  Eames  married  Julian  Story. 
They  kept  their  intended  marriage  secret.  Airs.  Eames  was  opposed  to  it,  as 
she  thought  it  might  interfere  with  her  daughter's  stage  career.  One  of  the 
few  persons  the  voting  people  took  into  their  Confidence  was  the  Prince  of 
Wales.  Three  days  before  she  became  Mrs.  Story,  Miss  Eames  said  to  the 
prince:  "Eve  a  piece  of  news  for  you,  but  I  would  like  you  to  keep  it  to 
yourself.  In  three  days  I  am  going  to  be  married  to  Julian  Story."  "he  first 
letter    she    ever     re- 


made 


"  Mrs.  Julian  Story  " 

ding    gift     from    the 

T  H  E     sa  m  e     year 

her  operatic  debut  in 

as   E/sa  in   "  Lohen- 

torium,   in    Chicago, 

at   the    Metropolitan 

York.       Since    then, 

in    Madrid,    her    ap- 

altogether    in     Eng- 

States. 

MME.     E  AMES'S 

Elizabeth  in  "Tann- 

Eva  in  "Die  Meister- 

eventually  to  sing  the 

Isolde.      She  is  of  the 

that     the    voice    be- 

a   certain  amount   of  its   lustre   when    devoted   exclusively  to  singing   Wagner. 

Therefore,  it   is  her  intention  after  every  new  Wagner  opera  to  study  several 

Italian   roles.      She   has  appeared  in  many  operas  in  the  course  of   her   career, 

but   has   made   a   point   of   eliminating   every    role    which    after   several   trials 

has   not   completely   appealed   to   her.     There  are  seasons  when  she   does  not 

appear    at    all,    but    rests    at    her    villa    near    Vallambrosa,    Italy.      It    is    high 

up  on  the  mountain,  and  she  takes  long  walks   in    the   exhilarating    air.      Her 

nearest    neighbor   is    Mr.  Story's  sister,  who  married  a  De  Medici,  and  she  is 

six  miles  distant.      In    this   mountain    retreat  Mine.  Eames   gathers  health  and 

strength  for  further  conquests.      Of  course  she  studies,   but   she   is   relieved  of 

the  strain  ot'    public   appearances.      She    is    one  of   the  great    favorites  of   the 

English   and  American  operatic   public.      Conscientious  devotion    to    her    art, 

coupled    with    remarkable   vocal    gifts,    and    unimpeachable    musical    intuition 

united    with   great   personal    beauty,   have   raised   her   to   the    high    rank    she 

occupies  among  prima  donnas. 


ceived  addressed 
was  with  a  wed- 
prince. 

Mine.  Eames 
America,  appearing 
grin,"  at  the  Audi- 
and  later  as  "Juliette 
Opera  House,  New 
save  for  a  brief  season 
pearances  have  been 
land  and  the  United 

Wagnerian  roles  are 
hauser,"  E/sa  and 
singer."  She  expects 
three  Brunhildes  and 
opinion,  however, 
comes  heavy  and  loses 


\ 


w: 


MME.  MELBA 

"HERE  is  Miss  Nellie?" 
THAT    was    the    question    often 

asked  in  the  Mitchell  household 
in  Melbourne,  Australia.  Mme. 
Melha's  maiden  name  was  Nellie  Mitchell,  and  she 
was  horn  in  the  Australian  capital  in  i  865.  She  was 
a  vivacious,  romping  child,  usually  in  some  mis- 
chief or  other,  and  thus  the  question,  "Where  is 
Miss  Nellie?"  was  a  frequent  one. 
THE  house  in  which  she  was  horn  is  called 
"  Doonside."  It  is  an  old  rambling  building  with 
a  large  garden,  and  still  is  her  family's  town  resi- 
dence in  Melbourne.  But  the  place  around  which 
most  or  her  childhood  memories  cluster  is  Steel's 
Flat,  Lilydale,  one  or  her  father's  country  places 
in  Victoria,  and  now  the  property  of  I)a\'id  Syme, 
a  wealthy  newspaper  proprietor.  There  she  was 
tree  to  roam  outdoors.      It  was  her  delight  to  gal- 

1 o  p     bareback 


across  the  plains 
and  through  the 
winding  bridle 
tracks  of  the 
bush. 

NOTWITHSTANDING  her  active  dispo- 
sition, she  loved  to  be  alone,  and  she  her- 
self tells  that  she  often  spent  hours  at  a 
time  fishing  on  the  edge  of  the  creek  and 
perfectly  happy,  even  if  she  caught  little  or 
nothing.  "  The  silent  plains,"  she  says,  "  the 
vast  ranges  of  eucalyptus  forest,  the  sunny 
skies,  and  the  native  wild  birds  were  all  one 
glorious  harmony,  and  the  time  seemed  all 
too  short  as  I  rode,  or  fished,  singing,  sing- 
ing all  the  time.  I  was  never  at  the  home- 
stead, nor  indeed  anywhere  else,  when  I 
should  have  been,  and  the  question, '  Where 
is  Miss  Nellie?'  grew  to  be  a  first-class 
conundrum." 

BOTH  her  parents  were  intensely  musical. 
Her  mother,  who  was  of  Spanish  descent 
and  from  whom  Mme.  Mclha  inherits  her 
handsome      looks,      was     an      accomplished 


pianist,  and  the  child  sometimes  spent  hours  hidden  under  the  pianoforte 
listening  while  the  mother  played  for  her  own  amusement,  wholly  unaware  of 
the  wee  audience  concealed  under  the  instrument.  The  child  was  so  fasci- 
nated hy  this  music  that  she  often  allowed  the  hour  for  her  meal  to  pass  hv, 
although  she  knew  she  was  being  searched  for.  It  was  a  great  delight  for  her 
to  sit  on  her  father's  knee  and  pick  out  the  treble  notes  on  the  harmonium 
while  he  sang  the  bass.  While  still  a  mere  child  she  picked  up  violin,  piano 
and  organ  playing,  and  to  this  day,  as  an  encore  in  the  lesson  scene  of  "  II 
Barbiere,"  or  as  a 
will  sit  down  at  the 
to  her  own  accom- 
was  six  years  old  she 
pear  at  a  charitable 
"Shells  of  the 
that  she  was  obliged 
for  which  she  selected 
Rye."  She  was  elated 
the  next  day,  when 
with  the  little  girl 
and  who  had  been  at 
ed  eagerly  tor  some 
curred  is  best  told  in 
minutes  passed — 
— but  my  child  chum 
what  to  me  was  the 
world.  Unable  to 
any  further  I  at  last 
the  concert !  You 
concert  ? '  My  play- 
face  toward  mine  and, 
a  significant  pitch, 
Mitchell,  I  saw  your 
never  forgotten  the 
the  criticism  of  my 
principal  school-days 
donna  were  passed  at 
dies'  College,  Melbourne 


concert  encore,  she 
piano  and  sing  a  song 
paniment.  When  she 
was  allowed  to  ap- 
concert.  She  sang 
Ocean  "  so  nicely 
to  give  an  encore, 
"  Comin'  Thro'  the 
with  her  success,  and 
she  went  out  to  play 
who  lived  opposite 
the  concert,  she  wait- 
comment.  What  oc- 
her  own  words :  "  The 
years  I  thought  them 
continued  to  ignore 
chief  thing  in  the 
curb  my  eagerness 
blurted  out,  '  Well, 
know  I  sang  at  the 
mate  inclined  her 
lowering  her  voice  to 
answered,  '  Nellie 
drawers !  '  I  have 
spontaneous  malice  in 
little  playmate."  The 
of  the  future  prima 
the  Presbyterian  La- 
She  cared  little  for  study  and  was  accounted  one 
of  the  worst  pupils  at  the  institution.  During  the  hour  and  a  half  allowed 
tor  luncheon,  however,  she  devoted  her  time  to  practising  on  the  organ  in  the 
Scots  Church,  but  as  her  health  was  affected  by  going  without  food  from 
breakfast  until  dinner,  her  practising  was  summarily  stopped.  She  once  was 
called  home  from  college  to  an  important  family  celebration,  and  was  intrusted 
with  the  duty  of  playing  several  selections  of  sacred  music  appropriate  to  the 
occasion.  The  music  was  placed  on  the  desk  before  her,  but  instead  of  playing 
it  she  dashed  into  a  lively  polka,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the  solemn  assemblage. 


Nil  I  II       Mil  l:.\ 


SHE  was  ambitious  to  go  on  the  stage,  hut  her  parents  opposed 
her  wishes,   and    she  was    unable   to   carry  them    out   until   her 
marriage  to  Mr.  Charles  Armstrong  (from  whom  she  has  been 
divorced).      When,  in    1887,  her   father  was   appointed  by  the 
government    of  Victoria   a   commissioner    to    the    Indian    and 
Colonial  Exhibition  in  London,  she  accompanied  him  to  Lon- 
don      This   trip   proved   the  turning-point   in  her   career.      In 
Freemasons   Hall   she  sang  to  an  audience  of "actors ;  and  their 
friends  Gounod's  «  Ave  Marie"  and  an   English   ballad.      She 
was    utterly   unknown   to  almost   everyone   in   the  audience— 
»an   unknown  Australian   lady"  she  was  called  at  the  time- 
but  her  singing   created  such  a  furor   that  someone  gave   her  a 
letter  to  Mme  Marches!,  and,  armed  with  this,  she  went  to  Pans  and  presented 
herself  at   the    Rue    Jouffroy.      Mme.  Marches!   heard   her,  and  after  she  had 
sung  her  second  song  the  famous  teacher  rushed  excitedly  out  of  the  drawing- 
room  and  called  to  her  husband,  «  SahatoreJ'ai  enfin  une  etoile !        When  the 
candidate  for  prima-donna  honors  had  finished,  Mme.  Marchesi  gravely  asked, 
"  Mrs.  Armstrong,  are  you  serious  ?      Have  you  patience  ? 

«  THEN  if  you  will  stay  with  me  for  one  year  I  will  make  of  you  something 
ex-tra-or-din-ary."  (Mme.  Melba  says  that  Mme.  Marchesi  divided  this  word 
in  a  curious  staccato  way.) 

MME  MELBA  always  speaks  oi  her  teacher  with  love  and  heartfelt  grati- 
tude Their  relations  became  almost  from  the  start  those  of  warm  friends. 
Mme.  Melba  has  a  portrait  of  Mme.  Marchesi  across  which  the  famous 
teacher  has  written  :  "Que  Dieu  protege  ma  chere  eleve  Nellie  Melba  et 
qu'en  chantant  et  enchantant  le  monde,  elle  souvienne  quelques  fois  de  son 
affectionnee  Mathilde  Marchesi." 

THE  Theatre  de  la  Monnaie,  Brussels,  has  been   the  scene  of    many  brilliant 
debuts.      It  is  regarded  as  the  stepping-stone  to  the  Grand  Opera    Paris  on  the 
one  hand,  and  Covent  Garden  on  the  other.      It  was  there  that  Mme.  Melba 
who  takes  her  stage  name  from  her   native   city,  Melbourne,  made   her   debut 
in  October,  1887,  as  Gilda  in  «  Rigoletto."      It  was  brilliantly  successful  and 
led  to  successive   engagements  at  Covent   Garden,  Paris,  St.  Petersburg    Nice, 
Milan,  Stockholm   and   Copenhagen,  and   in    December,  1 893,  at  the  Metro- 
politan Opera  House,  New  York.      Since   then,  Mme.  Melba   has   largely  di- 
vided her  time  between  this  country  and  London.     But  she  has  also  sung  with 
brilliant  success  in  the  principal  German  cities  and  in  \  lenna. 
HER  voice   is  a   high  soprano  of  beautiful  quality,  and   she  is  at  her   best  in 
roles  like  Juliette,  Lucia,  Ophelie,  Marguerite,  and  Marguerite  de  Valois  in  "  Lcs 
Huguenots."      She   also  has   sung  with    much  success  M,m,,  in  Puccini  s      La 
Boheme." 


MME.    SEMBRICH 


MME.  SEMBRICH'S  maiden  name  was  Marcelline  Cohainska. 
But  when  she  went  on  the  stage  she  adopted  her  mother's  family 
name,  Sembrich,  and  shortened  her  given  name  to  Marcella. 
She  was  horn  at  Lemberg,  in  Austrian  Poland.  Her  father  was 
a  self-educated  musician.  Without  having  received  any  instruction,  there 
nevertheless  hardly  was  an  instrument  which  he  could  riot  play,  although  the 
piano  and  the  violin  were  his  special  instruments.  There  were  nine  sons  and 
lour  daughters  in  the  family.  The  lather  taught  his  children  music,  and  the 
future  prima  donna  hardly  had  begun  to  speak  when  she  knew  her  notes.  At 
four  years  old  she  began  the  study  of  the  pianoforte  and  at  six  years  old  the 
violin,  practising  on  an  instrument  which  her  lather  made  for  her. 
HE  had  taught  his  wile  to  play  the  violin  after  their  marriage,  and  Mine.  Sem- 
brich says  she  remembers  very  well  playing  when  she  was  seven  years  old  in  a 
string  quartette  composed  of  herself,  her  mother,  her  brother,  and  her  father. 
Thus  she  lived  in  a  musical  atmosphere.  She  breathed  in  music,  not  teacher's 
music,  hut  music  which  was  part  of  the  family  life  and  was  second-nature. 
The  family  travelled  through  the  provinces  as  wandering  musicians,  Marcelline 
playing  the  piano  and  violin  at  concerts,  the  father  giving  music  lessons,  one 
year  in  one  town,  the  next  year  in  another.  She  was  not  vet  singing;  in  fact, 
none  of  the  family  was  aware  that  she  had  a  voice. 

AN  old  gentleman  who    heard    her   play  in    one   of   these  wandering   minstrel 
tours  was   so   much    interested   in   her   performance  that   he   placed   her  in  the 

conservatory  in  Lemberg.  There  for  eleven 
years  she  studied  the  piano  with  Professor  Stengl, 
whom  she  subsequently  married.  She  also  stud- 
ied the  violin.  When  she  was  about  fifteen  or 
sixteen  years  old  she  began  singing  for  herself 
and  in  choruses.  The  opinion  of  those  who 
heard  her  was  that  she  had  a  pretty  voice,  hut 
rather  a  small  one,  though  of  considerable  ranee. 
For  this  reason  she  continued  her  piano  and 
violin  lessons,  hut  did  nothing  for  her  voice. 
ABOLT  this  time  she  had  made  so  much 
progress  that  Stengl  thought  he  would  take  her 
to  Liszt  to  continue  her  studies.  In  passing 
through  Vienna  they  stopped  to  call  on  Julius 
Eppstein.  The  girl  played  the  piano  ami  the 
violin  for  him  and  he  was  astounded  at  her  pro- 
ficiency. "  What  else  can  you  do?"  he  asked. 
"  I  think  she  has  a  voice,"  Stengl  answered  for 
her. 

"Is    it    possible?'      said     Eppstein.      "Let 
hear  it." 


me 


mo  i 


SHE  sang  for  him.  He  expressed  surprise  at  its  range  and  timbre,  and  urged 
her  to  develop  it.  "Stay  here  a  year,"  he  said.  "Go  on  with  your  piano 
and  violin  lessons,  but  also  try  voice  culture,  and  we  will  see  what  comes  of 
it."  As  a  result,  she  settled  down  in  Vienna,  studying  the  violin  with  Helmes- 
berger,  the  piano  with  Eppstein,  and  the  voice  with  Rokitansky.  In  a  tew 
nth's  she  didn't  want  to  know  anything  more  about  the  piano  or  the  violin, 

and   after  a    winter   in    Vienna   Stengl   took    her    to 
Lamperti    in    Milan,  with    whom    she    studied   two 
years — pour    poser  la    voix.      Here    she    learned    the 
method  of  the  real  old   Italian  school,  and  acquired 
her  beautiful  legato  style  and  perfect  breathing.    For 
hours   at   a   time  she   studied   the    proper  use  of   the 
breath    in   singing.       Lamperti    used   to   say:      "No 
water,    no   sailing;    no   breathing,  no  singing.      The 
voice  sails  on  the  breath."      In  speaking  o(  her  ex- 
perience   with    Lamperti,   Mine.   Sembrich   said    to 
me:      "Think   how    many    young  singers   atter  rive 
years  get   a    tremolo.      They  are  not   well   taught." 
Her  experience  with  Lamperti  was  invaluable. 
AFTER  she  had  been  studying  with  him  two  years, 
a   small   impresario   came  along   looking   tor   young 
singers.      He    engaged    her    to    make    her    debut    in 
Athens,  and  there,  before  the  date  oi  her  debut,  she 
married    Stengl,    so    that,    as    she    herself    says,    she 
"  never  took  a  step  on  the  stage  unmarried."      Her 
debut  was  made  in  "  Puritani,"  and  she  was  eighteen 
years  old.     "  It  was  a  tine  country  for  a  honeymoon," 
she  says,  "  but  the  impresario  tailed  and  left  us  high 
and  dry."      However,  she  had  made  a  great  success, 
and  the  papers  prophesied  a  brilliant  career  tor  her. 
She  returned  to  Vienna.      Stengl  wanted  to  work  and 
at   once  secured   a    position    at   the   conservatory,  and  the  young  prima  donna 
began  to  study  the  German  repertoire  with  Richard  Levy. 

CONDUCTOR  WULLNER,  of  the  Dresden  Opera,  heard  of  her,  and  need- 
ing a  colorature  singer,  engaged  her  for  three  years  for  Dresden.  There  she 
made  what  she  considers  her  real  operatic  debut  as  Lucia,  under  Von  Schuch's 
direction.  After  a  winter's  experience  in  Dresden  she  obtained  a  furlough  and 
sang  with  great  success  in  Milan.  Stengl  thought  Dresden  was  rather  a  small 
place  for  a  singer  oi  her  brilliant  promise.  "  Nicht  sitzen  bleiben  im  Klein- 
stadt"  ("Don't  stick  in  a  little  place"),  he  used  to  say.  Besides  this  there 
were  jealousies  in  the  company,  and  obstacles  were  constantly  being  put  in  her 
way.  '    So  she  asked  to  have  her  contract  cancelled,  and  finally  she  was  allowed 

IN  the  spring  of  1880  Gve  was  giving  a  season   at   Covent   Garden.      Stengl 
concluded  to  take  her  there.      She  had   no  engagement,  but  when  she  asked, 


Si  mbkii  ii 


"  What  shall  we  do  when  we  get  there  ?  "  her  husband  replied,  "  No  matter 
about  that.  Come  along."  She  was  utterly  unknown  in  London  exxept  to 
Vianesi,  who  was  conducting  at  Covent  Garden.  He  induced  Gye  to  let  her 
sing  tor  him.  She  reached  Covent  Garden  just  after  Patti  had  finished  re- 
hearsing "  Dinorah,"  and  before  the  orchestra  had  left.  She  sang  an  aria  from 
"  Lucia,"  and  although  the  orchestra  was  tired  from  rehearsing,  it  rose  in  a 
body  and  applauded  her.  Gye  at  once  engaged  her  to  make  her  debut  in 
"  Lucia  "  in  a  company  which  included  Patti,  Albani,  Gayarre  and  Graziani. 
THE  following  winter  found  her  in  St.  Petersburg,  where  she  made  an 
equally  great  success,  and  in  1882  she  sang  in  Madrid.  In  1883,  with  only 
three  years  as  an  opera-singer  behind  her,  she  took  part  as  one  of  the  principal 
prima  donnas  in  the  opening  season  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  New 
York.  She  made  her  debut  in  "  Lucia,"  singing  also  in  "  II  Barbiere,"  "  Puri- 
tani,"  "Hamlet,"  "  Martha,"  "  Figaro,"  "Traviata"  and  "  Sonnambula."  After 
this  season  she  went  to  Paris,  Lisbon,  and  again  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  from 
that  time  until  her  return  here  to  sing  with  the  Maurice  Grau  Opera  Com- 
pany, she  sang  chiefly  in  St.  Petersburg,  Vienna,  Berlin,  with  a  few  London 
seasons,  and  always  with  growing  success.  She  came  back  here  during  the 
season  of  1898-99  and  soon  re-established  herself  in  popular  favor.  At  the 
spectacular  revival  of  Mozart's  "  Magic  Flute,"  she  was  the  Queen  of  the  Night, 
a  most  brilliant  performance. 
MME.  SEMBRICH  is  one  of  the  few  great 
exponents  at  the  present  day  of  the  pure 
Italian  style  of  singing,  and  of  the  Italian 
repertoire,  including  Mozart.  In  Wagner  she 
has  essayed  only  Elsa  and  Eva  in  "  Die  Meis- 
tersinge'r."  She  believes  that  her  voice  has 
lasted  so  well  because  she  stays  in  her  genre. 
While  she  considers  Wagner  marks  a  colossal 

progress   in   music  as  such,  she  does  not  con- 
sider  that   musical  declamation  with  a  heavy 

orchestral  accompaniment  is  good  for  certain 

voices,  hers  among  them,  and  she  believes  it 

impossible   for  a  young  singer   to    begin  with 

Wagner  without  ruining  her  voice.      On  this 

point  she  says  :      "  To  sing  '  Lucia  '  one  must 

studv  for    years.      Yet    many    young    singers 

think    that    it    just    requires   voice    and   some 

knowledge  ot'  music  to  sing  Wagner.      Times 

have  changed.      Now  life  and   excitement   in 

everything   is  wanted.      It  is  so  even   in    pict- 
ures and   books.      But   this   is  only  a   passing 

characteristic  of  the   times,  for  after   all  it  is 

the  true  and  beautiful  that  survive.     We  used 

to  sing  with   only  twenty-four  or  thirty  play- 


ers  in  the  orchestra  ;  now  there  must  he  seventy-five  or  a  hundred.  For- 
merly a  little  simple  tulle  would  do' tor  a  costume;  now  you  must  have  real 
lace.  But  after  all,  '  Lucia  '  sounds  just  as  well  in  a  tea-gown." 
"AN  operatic  career  is  a  tine  thing,  hut  an  opera-singer  really  doesn't  'live,' 
and  if  it  were  not  tor  the  few  minutes'  joy  when  you  hear  thousands  applaud- 
ing, there  would  he  little  tempting  in  the  career.  for  the  minute  the  artist 
is  off  the  stage  she  thinks  how  the  next  thing  is  going.  If  one  only  could 
always  end  a  performance  and  never  begin  it.  It  I  myself  could  not  feel  how 
everything  was  going,  I  could  tell  from  Stengl.  He  always  sits  in  the  audi- 
ence and  comes  in  to  see  me  between  the  acts.  He  has  a  very  long  nose,  and 
if  it  is  longer  than  usual,  I  know  that  I  have  not  done  well." 


MLLE.  TERNINA 

MILKA  TERNINA  was  born  in  Croatia.  Her  given  name,  Milka, 
is  Croatian  for  darling.  Therefore  the  interpreter  of  the  stately 
Briinnhilde,  the  impassioned  Isolde,  the  tragic  Tosca,  is  "Darling" 
Ternina.  If  it  seems  an  absurd  name  for  a  great  prima  donna, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  her  parents,  having  no  idea  that  a  great  career  lay 
before  their  girl  babv,  did  not  consult  the  public  in  naming  her.  Moreover, 
there  is  some  evidence  that  tbe  name  is  not  ill  chosen,  although  its  owner  is  a 
Briinnhilde,  an  Isolde,  a  Kundry ;  for  her  aunt,  who  is  her  constant  companion, 
endearingly  calls  her  "little  one." 

"I  beg  to  introduce  my  aunt. —  Permit  me."  Thus  the  prima  donna. 
"Please  repeat  the  name,  little  one.  I  failed  to  catch  it."  Thus  the  aunt. 
THIS  aunt  is  the  piima  donna's  second  mother  and  has  been  since  Milka  was 
a  child.  Ternina,  unlike  some  others  in  her  position,  does  not  object  to  telling 
her  age.  She  was  born  in  Vezisce  in  December,  1863.  When  she  was  six 
years  old  she  was  adopted  by  her  aunt  Jurkovic,  who  lived  in  Agram,  and  it  is 
this  aunt  who  still  calls  her' "little  one."  Uncle  Jurkovic  was  a  Regierungs- 
rath  (a  government  counselor),  which  is  not 
quite  as  big  in  Croatia  as  it  sounds  in  America. 
Nevertheless  the  uncle  was  a  man  of  some  im- 
portance in  Agram,  and  distinguished  people, 
in  passing  through  the  place,  were  likely  to 
stop  at  his  house.  Thus  Milka  grew  up 
among  people  of  good  breeding.  The  uncle, 
although  fond  oi'  music,  was  anything  but  a 
Wagnerite  and  probably  little  dreamed  that 
his  niece  and  adopted  daughter  was  destined 
to  become  one  of  the  greatest  interpreters  of 
Wagner  roles.  When  she  still  was  a  young 
girl  he  went  with  her  to  see  a  performance 
of  "  Siegfried  "  in  Munich.  The  music  drama 
was  new  to  him  or  he  could  not  have  been 
induced  to  so  much  as  put  his  nose  inside  the 
opera  house.  The  girl  sat  through  the  perform- 
ance toodeeplv  moved  for  words.  Uncle  Jurko- 
vic stood  it  until  the  curtain  rose  on  the  Valkyr 
rock  with  Briinnhilde  asleep  under  the  tree.  Then 
he  rose.  "  Well,"  he  said,  "  if  you  think  I'm 
going  to  stay  here  until  that  woman  stretches 
herself,  yawns,  and  wakes  up,  you're  mistaken!" 
So  he  departed,  leaving  Milka  to  see  the  per- 
formance out.  Uncle  Jurkovic  may  not  have 
been  a  Wagnerite,  but  he  understood  how  to 
clothe  his  thoughts  in  expressive  language. 


lyrighl    photo,    by    D 


MILKA'S   voice  was  a  chance  discovery.     Her  aunt   had   another  niece  who 

was  taking  singing  lessons,  and    Milka  went  with  her  when  she  called  for  the 

tnrl.      Sometimes   they    arrived    before    the    lesson    was    over,    and    when    thev 

- 

reached  home  it  was  noticed  that  Milka  had  absorbed  the  instruction  she  had 
overheard  and  would  'j^o  about  the  house  singing  her  cousin's  exercises.  As  a 
result,  she  herself  became  a  pupil.  The  teacher  under  whom  she  took  the  first 
steps  in  her  remarkable  career  ami  who  first  awakened  the  slumbering  ambition 
within  her,  was  named  Ida  W'iniberger.  No  mention  of  her  will  be  found  in 
any  musical  dictionary  or  other  book  of  biography,  but  she  surely  deserves 
this  passing  reference  to  the  part  she  played  in  the  life  of  one  who  was  des- 
tined to  become  a  sjreat  artist. 

TERNINA  —  this  is  her  real  name  and  not  a  stage  appellation,  —  was  then 
twelve  or  thirteen.  At  fifteen  she  entered  the  Vienna  conservatory,  studied 
there  for  three  years  under  Gansbacher,  and  left  there  to  secure  immediately  a 
position  at  Leipsic.  She  has  been  called  the  "blue-ribbon  product"  of  the 
staid  Vienna  conservatory. 

II  LR  debut  at  Leipsic  was  made  in  1SS1,  when  she  was  eighteen  years  old, 
and  as  Elizabeth  in  "Tannhauser."  Her  aunt,  who  never  had  seen  her  on 
the  sta<ie,  was  in  the  audience.  When  she  saw  her  "little  one"  stretched 
out  upon  the  bier  in  the  last  scene,  she  forgot  that  it  was  not  Milka  herself, 
but  only  Elizabeth  who  was  dead,  and  began  to  cry.  At  Leipsic,  at  the  very 
outset  of  her  career,  Ternina  had  an  experience  which  has  been  repeated 
wherever  she  has  appeared.  The  audience  did  not  like  her.  It  always  has 
required  time  tor  her  to  win  each  successive  new  public.  She  tried  tor  a  year 
to  overcome  the  prejudice  of  the  Leipsic  audiences  and  then  resigned.  She 
went  to  (iraz.  Hardly  had  she  begun  her  engagement  there  than  she 
received  offers  to  return  to  Leipsic.  It  had  been  necessary  tor  her  only  to 
leave  that  city,  for  the  audiences  at  the  opera  there  to  realize  what  a  great 
artist  thev  had  let  £0.  Hut  she  did  not  return.  After  two  years  in  Graz  she 
went  to  Bremen,  where  she  added,  among  other  roles,  Isolde  and  Briinnhilde 
to  her  repertory.  Briinnhilde  she  first  sang  under  the  conductorship  of  Anton 
Seidl.  She  was  at  Bremen  until  I  S90,  and  then  went  to  the  Court  Theatre, 
Munich.  There  she  was  so  popular  that  when  she  left  to  tour  individually  or 
to  accept  star  engagements,  the  public  petitioned  her  to  remain.  As  a  result, 
lie  has  endeavored  to  give  a  briei  season  to  Munich  every  year. 
HLR  first  appearance  in  London  was  in  iSi;q,  at  a  Wagner  concert  under 
Herman  Levi.  She  was  brought  to  America  lw  Walter  Damrosch,  ami  her 
American  debut  was  made  with  his  opera  company  in  Boston,  in  February, 
[896.  In  March  o\  the  same  year,  and  with  the  same  company,  she  made  her 
debut  in  New  York  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  as  \<\l.ui.  Since  then  she  has 
appeared  here  with  Grau,  and  last  season  was  the  leading  Wagner  prima 
donna  in  Heinrich  Conried's  company  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  Mouse, 
New  York,  where  she  sang  Kundry  at  the  first  performance  with  scenery  and 
action,  ol  Wagner's  "  Parsifal  "  in  this  country,  December  24th,  1903.  Her 
appearance  as   Kundry   led   to  an   incident   which   has   not   yet,  I  believe,  been 


made  public.  She  previously  hud  sung  the  role  in  Bavreuth,  but  had  made 
her  reputation  before  that  and  was  in  nowise  indebted  to  Mine.  Wagner  or 
to  Bavreuth  in  the  shaping  of  her  career.  Therefore,  when  she  learned  of  a 
letter  written  by  Wagner's  widow  in  which  it  was  said  that  she  had  been 
willing  to  lower  her  art  by  appearing  in  the  New  York  "Parsifal"  perform- 
ances for  the  sake  of  money,  she  made  a 
dignified  reply  in  which  she  pointed  out 
that,  so  far  as  her  relations  with  Bayreuth 
were  concerned,  there  was  no  reason  why 
she  should  not  sing  the  role  here,  while, 
as  for  money,  she  had  yet  to  learn  that 
the  residents  of  Wahnfried  were  wholly 
indifferent  to  it. 

TERNINA  is  par  excellence  the  intel- 
lectual interpreter  of  great  operatic  roles. 
She  is  to  opera  what  Mrs.  Fiske  is  to 
drama,  or  what  the  latter  would  be  to 
drama,  it  her  genius  were  fully  appre- 
ciated. Ternina  has  the  intellect  to 
completely  analyze  and  comprehend  a 
character,  the  voice  and  temperament  to 
interpret  it,  and,  what  is  as  important  as 
any  oi  these  gifts,  the  power  of  holding 
her  temperament  under  control.  This  is 
the  reason  why  audiences  to  whom  her 
art  is  new,  think  her  cold.  It  is  artistic 
reserve  which  keeps  drama  from  degen- 
erating into  melodrama,  and  it  is  artistic 
reserve  that  maintains  Ternina's  interpre- 
tations upon  the  highest  intellectual  and 
emotional  plane.  The  foregoing  is  true 
of  her  when  she  is  at  her  best.  She  is  at 
times  the  victim  of  illness  |  when  she  came 
over  here  for  the  season  of  iSqS-qq  with 
the  Damrosch-EUis  company,  she  was 
unable  to  appear  at  all),  and  there  have 
been  occasions  when  she  should  not  have  appeared,  but  has  done  so  to  save  her 
manager.  Those  who  have  heard  her  only  at  such  times  cannot  understand 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  those  who  have  been  more  fortunate  acclaim  her 
art.  The  above  is  the  real  reason  for  the  radical  differences  of  opinion  that 
exist  regarding  her  performances.  Doubtless  those  who  do  not  know  her  at 
her  best  never  will  appreciate  why,  after  she  had  sung  Kundry  at  Bayreuth, 
Mme.  Wagner  went  down  on  her  knees,  kissed  the  hem  of  her  robe,  and  ex- 
claimed :  "If  my  husband  only  could  hear  you!"  Mme.  Wagner  wanted 
her  to  sing   Elizabeth,  but  Ternina  declined   because  she  differed  so  radically 


Copyright    photo,    by    Dupont. 


■'*-", 


with  the  composer's  widow  regarding  the  interpretation  of  the  rule.  They  sat 
up  until  two  o'clock,  one  morning  arguing  over  the  matter,  Mme.  Cosima 
curiously  insisting  that  Elizabeth  was  not  in  love  with  Tannhduser. 
TERN  IN  A  has  been  a  personal  friend  of  the  Czarina  from  the  time  the  latter 
was  simply  Princess  Alice  of  Hesse-Darmstadt.  When  a  special  performance 
of  "  Tannhauser  "  was  to  be  given  at  Darmstadt,  the  prima  donna  always  was 
sent  for,  and  she  sang  the  role  when  the  opera  was  given  at  Darmstadt  for  the 
engagement  festival  of  the  Princess  and  the  Czar.  After  the  wedding  the 
German  Emperor  conceived  the  idea  ot  sending  some  of  the  greatest  opera 
singers  of  Germany  to  give  a  complimentary  concert  to  their  Imperial  Majesties 
at  St.  Petersburg.  Ternina  was  selected  as  the  leading  dramatic  soprano.  Be- 
fore the  artists  started  for  Russia,  the  entire  program  was  rehearsed  for  the 
Emperor  in  his  palace  at  Berlin.  His  pet  project  was  to  have  the  chorus  of 
the  Valkyries  sung  by  prima  donnas.  But  when  they  sang  it  in  the  compara- 
tively small  apartment  in  which  the  rehearsal  was  held,  the  racket  was  so 
terrific  that  Prince  Henry,  who  is  not  a  lover  of  music  even  at  its  best,  turned 
to  his  brother,  the  Emperor,  and  exclaimed,  "  Aber  sag  a'  ma/,  Wilhehn,  das 
kann  ma'  nicht  thun.  Dass  ist  ja  grasslich!  "  ("  But  say,  William,  that  can't  be 
done.  It's  horrible!")  It  struck  the  Emperor  much  the  same  way,  and  the 
Valkyr  chorus  was  crossed  off  the  program. 

SPEAKING  of  "  Die  Walkiire,"  the  horse  provided  at  the  Metropolitan 
Opera  House  last  season  was  a  very  refractory  beast,  and  both  in  that  music 
drama  and  in  "  Gotterdammerung,"  the  prima   donna   had   much   difficulty   in 

keeping  the  animal  under  control.  She  was 
greatly  amused  to  receive,  the  morning  after 
one  of  these  performances,  a  large  box  of  roses 
with  this  letter  from  a  young  woman  :  — 

Dear  Madame  Ternina, 

I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I  admire  you 
as  a  horsewoman.  Being  accustomed  to  horses 
myself,  I  appreciate  your  skill  in  managing  Grane 
last  night.  Again  with  admiration. 


Cfe^ 


NOT  a  word  about  her  singing  ov  her  acting 
that  was  the  amusing  thing  about  the  letter. 
Instead  it  praised  the  horsemanship  of  a  woman 
who,  probably,  never  has  been  on  a  horse's  hack. 
This  particular  horse  smelled  strongly  of  the 
stable,  which  the  prima  donna  found  so  dis- 
agreeable that  she  made  a  complaint  about  it. 
At  the  next  performance,  when  she  stepped  into 
the  wings  to  take  the  horse,  she  found  the  beast's 
colored  attendant,  armed  with  an  atomizer, spray- 
ing  Grane's  head  ami  neck  with  perfume. 


Copyright    photo,    by    1' 


THERE  is  a  letter  from  Lilli  Lehmann,  in  which  she  writes  to  an  American 
friend,  "  My  successor  in  America  is  and  remains  Ternina."  After  a  perform- 
ance or  "  Gotterdammerung,"  Edouard  De  Reszke  wrote  to  his  brother  Jean, 
in  Paris,  that  he  was  so  much  interested  in  watching  Ternina  he  almost  forgot 
his  own  role.  Isolde,  the  Briinnhildes,  and  Tosca  are  her  greatest  character 
creations.  Considering  how  dissimilar  Tosca  is  to  the  other  roles  mentioned, 
it  is  a  remarkable  performance  and,  if  the  work  were  more  popular  in  the 
repertoire,  would  be  more  widely  appreciated  here.  Puccini  advises  all  Toscas 
who  come  to  him  for  advice,  to  copy  the  black  dress  which  Ternina  originated 
in  the  second  act.  Though  she  is  best  known  in  this  country  as  a  Wagner 
singer,  she  has  a  wide  range  of  other  roles.  Of  such  a  thing  as  professional 
jealousy  she  seems  wholly  ignorant.  The  expression  of  truth  in  art  appears  to 
be  her  one  aim  in  life. 

SHE  has  a  home  in  Munich.  Her  summers,  however,  she  usually  spends  in 
the  Steiermark,  where  she  lives  like  a  simple  village  girl.  In  fact  simplicity 
is  a  characteristic  of  her  life.  After  a  performance  of  Isolde  she  is  up  and  at 
breakfast  by  eight  o'clock  the  next  morning.  Ternina  once  described  herself 
as  "only  an  ordinary  Croatian  girl  with  a  great  love  for  music,  a  voice,  and 
an  unflinching  determination  to  reach  the  highest  possible  standard  of  training;" 
adding,  "  I  was  passionately  studious." 

SHE  has  attained  much.  There  is  even  a  Ternina  cult.  Yet  she  is  unhappy. 
Her  ideals  are  so  high  that,  in  her  own  opinion,  she  never  has  been  able  to 
attain  them.  Only  a  few  summers  ago,  though  long  a  famous  prima  donna, 
she  took  a  course  of  study  with  Lilli  Lehmann. 


MME.  SCHUMANN-HEINK 

FEW  prima  donnas  have  had  a  harder  struggle  for  success  than  Mme. 
Schumann-Heink.  Her  maiden  name  was  Ernestine  Roessler,  and  she 
was  the  daughter  of  an  Austrian  army  officer,  who  at  the  time  oi  her 
birth  was  stationed  in  Lieben,  near  Prague.  Her  father  had  wretch- 
edly small  pay,  and  the  family  was  very  poor.  Besides  herself  there  were 
three  sisters  and  a  brother. 

WHEN  she  was  ten  years  old  she  was  sent  to  the  Ursuline  Convent  in 
Prague.  There  it  was  discovered  by  a  nun  that  she  had  a  voice,  and  while  no 
attempt  was  made  to  educate  her  musically,  she  was  placed  in  the  choir, 
where  she  sang  entirely  by  ear.  When  she  sang  well,  she  received  as  a  re- 
ward a  kipfel  la  cookie  with  raisins).  If  she  made  a  slip  she  had  her  ears 
boxed.  Thus  her  musical  education  consisted  of  kipfel  and  slaps, 
sill-,  was  at  the  convent  two  years  and  a  halt.  Then  her  father  was  trans- 
ferred to  Graz.  There  a  singing  teacher  named  Marietta  von  Leclair  recog- 
nized the  voting  girl's  talent,  and  through  sheer  desire  not  to  let  it  go  to 
waste,  undertook,  to  give  Ernestine  lessons  without  compensation.  For  two 
years  she  taught  her  nothing  hut  exercises,  then  began  giving  her  songs  by 
Mendelssohn,  Schubert,  and  others.  The  girl  had  at  that  time  a  deep  contralto 
with  no  high  notes.  On  one  occasion  someone  who  was  calling  on  the  sing- 
ing teacher  heard  the  pupil  in  an  adjoining  room  singing  Schubert's  "  Der 
Tod  und  das  Madchen."  "  I  did  not  know,"  said  the  visitor,  "  that  you  had 
calves  among  your  pupils."  "Ah,"  was  Fraulein  von  Leclair's  reply,  "she- 
is  not  a  calf.      She  will  he  a  great  singer  some  day." 

WHEN  Ernestine  was  sixteen  years  old  Maria  Wilt,  a  famous  prima  donna 
of  the  Vienna  Opera,  came  to  Graz  tor  a  performance  ot  the  Ninth  Symphony. 
The  young  girl  was  in  the  quartette,  and  the  prima  donna,  noticing  her  voice, 
recommended  her  so  highly  to  the  director  of  the  Vienna  Opera  that  he  sent 
tor  her  to  come  and  have  her  voice  tried.  Here  was  an  opportunity  hut  also 
a  dilemma.  The  family  was  so  wretchedly  poor  that  the  father  could  not 
■rive  her  the  necessary  sixty  florins  to  enable  her  to  make 
the  trip.  In  her  quandary  she  applied  to  the  famous  Field- 
Marshal  Benedek,  who  promptly  gave  her  the  required 
amount. 

ACCORDINGLY  she  went  to  Vienna  anil  sang  for  l)i- 
rector  von  [auner.  Of  her  experience  she  says:  "  I  was 
.t  thin,  scrawny-looking  girl,  and  shockingly  dressed.  Mv 
clothes  were  oi  the  poorest  material,  and  badly  fitting. 
Altogether  I  suppose  I  presented  a  most  impoverished 
appearance.  The  director  heard  me  sing.  Then,  after 
looking  me  over,  he  said:  '  You  had  fetter  go  home,  and 
gel  fed  up,  and  then  go  to  a  "Mauser  [nstitut."  (This 

is  a  German  derisive  term  for  "finishing  school.")  The 
young    aspirant    went    home    broken-hearted.       She     had 


/ 


V 


hoped  to  be  able  to  tell  her  parents  that  at  last  they  had  her  off  their  hands. 
But  she  had  made  the  trip  to  Vienna  and  back  without  result. 
SOME  time  after  this,  however,  Materna,  in  passing  through  Graz,  heard  her 
sing,  and  on  the  prima  donna's  representations  she  received  a  request  from  the 
Dresden  Opera  to  go  there  and  have  her  voice  tried.  Of  course  her  father 
could  not  furnish  her  with  the  means,  but  as  the  management  agreed  to  repay 
her  expenses  she  borrowed  the  amount  from  a  friend.  She  presented  herself 
at  Dresden  with  two  other  candidates.  When  the  trial  came  off,  she  sang  the 
Fides  aria  from  "  Le  Prophete  "  and  the  Brindisi  from  "  Lucrezia  Borgia," 
with  the   result   that   she  was   engaged   at  once.      Director   von    Platen,  a  tall, 

immaculately  dressed,  and  verv  aristocratic  man,  was 
called  in,  and  when  he  was  told  the  result  of  the  trial, 
he  turned  to  her  and  said  :  "  You  are  engaged  at 
3,600  marks.  Are  you  satisfied  ?  "  "  Satisfied  !  "  ex- 
claimed the  poor  girl,  to  whom  it  seemed  as  if  a  fort- 
une had  fallen  into  her  lap  from  heaven  ;  and  with 
that  she  rushed  up  to  the  aristocratic  director,  and 
throwing  her  arms  around  him,  hung  to  his  neck. 
When  she  had  let  go,  he  looked  at  her  and  said  : 
"  But  aren't  you  a  mere  slip  of  a  girl  to  go  on  the 
operatic  stage?"  "As  tor  that,"  she  answered,  "I 
will  promise  to  eat  and  get  fatter,  and  besides  I  will 
grow  larger  of  my  own  accord." 

WHEN  she  went  home  and  told  of  her  experience, 
her  parents,  remembering  her  utter  failure  in  Vienna, 
refused  to  believe  her.  "  Nonsense  !  "  exclaimed  her 
father.  "  Do  you  suppose  they'd  engage  a  fright  like 
you  ?"  To  make  matters  worse,  week  after  week  went 
by  and  no  contract  arrived.  She  herself  was  begin- 
ning to  be  filled  with  dread,  when  at  last,  after  six 
weeks,  the  formidable-looking  document,  with  the  big 
seal  attached,  reached  her.  Then  she  had  a  very  sad  yet  happy  scene  with 
her  parents. 

HER  operatic  debut  was  made  in  Dresden  on  September  7,  1878,  as  Azucena 
in  "  Trovatore."  It  was  a  successful  debut.  She  was  in  Dresden  four  years, 
singing  mostly  minor  roles  like  the  Shepherd  in  "  Tannhauser."  Her  con- 
tract obliged  her  to  also  sing  in  church.  Though  she  had  been  trained  vo- 
cally,  she  had  received  little  musical  education,  and  most  of  her  singing  was 
by  ear.  The  conductor  of  the  music  in  church  was  Herr  Krebs,  the  husband 
of  a  famous  contralto,  Krebs-Michalese,  the  greatest  Fides  of  her  time.  Thev 
were  the  parents  of  Marie  Krebs,  the  pianist,  who  from  1870  to  1872  gave 
200  concerts  in  this  country. 

SINGING  the  complicated  church  services  by  ear  was  quite  a  different  mat- 
ter from  singing  in  opera,  and  at  a  Corpus  Christi  service,  between  looking 
over  the  rail  at  the  Court   people  below  and  her   lack  of  solid    musical  educa- 


I 


* 


* 


I 


1  KM  -IIM     Si  BUM ANN    IIkink 


tion,  the  young  singer  broke  down  in  the  midst  of  a  big  solo.  Krebs  was 
furious,  "You  wretched  goose!"  \Du  elende  Gans ! )  he  exclaimed,  "you 
have  spoiled  the  whole  mass."  At  the  same  time  he  struck  her  over  the  arm 
with  his  baton  so  hard  a  blow  that  the  welt  was  visible  tor  several  days.  From 
that  moment  she  made  up  her  mind  that  she  must  study,  and  she  began  tak- 
ing a  severe  course  ot  technical  instruction  with  Franz  \\  ullner. 
SHE  was  in  Dresden 
married  a  retired  army 
Her  marriage  gave  much 
her  Dresden  engage- 
ot"  a  year  she  received  an 
atre  in  Hamburg.  The 
most  unhappy  tor  her. 
turn  out  well,  her  re- 
and  the  manager,  know- 
vantage  ot  her  poor  cir- 
her  not  only  to  sing  in 
farce  and  comedy.  She 
was  expecting  a  tourth 
heard  her  sing.  He  was 
performance  at  Kroll's 
struck  with  her  voice 
she  would  take  part  in 
told  her  he  could  not 
travelling  expenses — but 
opportunity  tor  her  to 
lin.  She  consented  and 
ey  from  a  triend  to  travel 
capital,  she  started  in  the 
night  on  the  hard  bench 
ment.  She  arrived  in 
ing.  The  rehearsal  was 
she  felt  that  she  could 
hotel  to  rest,  so  she 
Garten  and  sat  there  un- 
she  entered  Kroll's,  Bo- 


four  years.  Then  she 
officer  named  Heink. 
displeasure,  and  she  lost 
ment.  After  an  interval 
engagement  at  the  the- 
next  five  years  were 
Her  marriage  did  not 
muneration  was  small, 
ing  her  plight,  took  ad- 
cumstances  and  obliged 
opera  but  to  appear  in 
had  three  children,  and 
when  the  tenor  Botel 
soon  to  have  a  benefit 
in  Berlin,  and  being 
and  acting,  asked  her  if 
his  performance.  He 
pay  her — not  even  her 
that  it  would  be  a  good 
secure  a  hearing  in  Ber- 
borrowing  enough  mon- 
third  class  to  the  German 
night  train,  sitting  up  all 
ot  a  third-class  com  part- 
Berlin  early  in  the  morn- 
not  until  ten  o'clock,  but 
not  afford  to  go  to  a 
walked  to  the  Thier 
til  rehearsal  time.  When 
tel  rushed  up  to  her  ex- 


claiming :  "Well,  you  really  have  come.  We  had  given  you  up.  Why  didn't 
you  go  to  the  hotel,  as  I  told  you  to  ?  "  She  explained  that  she  had  not  felt 
able  to  afford  it.  "  Why,"  he  said,  "  so  long  as  you  are  here,  you  are  my 
guest."  Relating  the  occurrence,  Mine.  Schumann-Heink  always  adds,  "  To 
think  that  I  had  been  so  economical  and  made  myself  so  uncomfortable  for 
nothing  !  " 

IN  the  evening  she  sang  Azucena  with  overwhelming  success.  She  was 
immediatelv  engaged  to  give  a  series  of  performances  the  following  summer. 
Of  course,  the  director  at  Hamburg  heard  of  the  furor  she  had  made,  and  some 


time  after  her  fourth  child  had  been  born  he  came  to 
her  lodgings  and  asked  her  if  she  would  sing  Fides  the 
following  night.  She  knew  she  would  have  no  chance 
to  rehearse,  but  for  years  she  had  been  begging  him 
in  vain  to  let  her  appear  in  some  important  role,  and 
this  was  her  opportunity.  So  she  went  on  without 
a  rehearsal  and  scored  a  tremendous  success. 
AT  the  time,  one  of  the  most  noted  prima  donnas  in 
Germany  was  a  member  of  the  Hamburg  company. 
She  was  so  piqued  at  Mme.  Heink's  success  that  at 
noon  one  day  she  sent  word  that  she  would  he  unable 
to  sing  Carmen  that  night.  The  manager  despatched  a 
messenger  to  Mme.  Heink  and  asked  it  she  would  take 
the  role.  Mme.  Heink  not  only  had  never  sung  the 
role,  she  never  had  even  studied  it,  hut  she  had  often 
heard  the  opera,  and  with  her  facility  for  picking  up 
music  by  ear,  she  had  acquired  the  role  vocally  ami  by 
watching  other  prima  donnas  had  learned  the  "  busi- 
ness."  Therefore  she  consented  to  help  the  manage- 
ment out,  went  on  in  the  evening  and  scored  a  veritable 
triumph.  The  next  week  she  sang  Ortrud  in  "  Lohen- 
grin." The  following  month  she  learned  and  sang 
three   new   roles — Favorita,  Adriano   in   "  Rienzi," 

Amnerts  in  "  Aida,"  besides  singing  twenty- 
two  times  in  her  regular  repertoire.      She 

now  received  a  considerable  increase  in  her 

salary    and    rilled    many    engagements    for 

concerts  and  for  star  performances  at  other 

opera  houses.  At  this  time,  too,  she  sep- 
arated from  her  husband,  afterward  marry- 
ing the  actor,  Carl    Schumann,  and  taking 

her  present  stage  name.     A  success  at  Bay- 

reuth    in    [896    led   to    her   engagement   in 

London  and  this  country,  where  she  made 

her    debut     in    1S9S.      Mme.    Schumann- 

Heink   has  a  superb   voice  of  both   mezzo 

and  contralto  compass.      Her  Ortrud,  Bran- 

gtine,    Waltraute,   and    Erda    are    her    most 

notable   achievements.      She    is   also  a  very 

popular     concert-singer     and     a     splendid 

mother  to    her   eight    children,  to   whom 

she  is  absolutely  devoted. 


and 


ENRICO  CARUSO 

ENRICO  CARUSO,  who  made  his  American  debut  on  the  opening 
night  of  the  first  season  of  grand  opera  under  Heinrich  Conried's 
management  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  New  York,  in  1903, 
^is  the  first  tenor  to  be  heard  in  this  country  since  Campanini  was  in 
his  prime  who  seems  destined  to  take  that  great  artist's  place. 
HIS  voice  is  of  unimpeachable  tenor  quality  and  faultlessly  placed.  It  is  ring- 
ing and  vibrant,  and  conveys  a  sense  of  ample  reserve  power  which  gives  the 
hearer  faith  in  its  staying  qualities.  Yet  it  is  sweet  and  expressive,  and  even 
when  used  pianissimo  carries  to  the  remotest  seats  in  the  house.  Caruso  has  a 
nice  taste  in  acting,  keeping  well  within  a  role,  yet  never  forcing  the  dramatic 
as  against  the  musical  side  of  a  character.  He  is  of  the  best  type  of  Italian 
tenors,  and  few  artists  have  made  a  greater  individual  success  here  than  he. 
IL  DUG  A  in  "Rigoletto"  was  the  role  in  which  he  made  his  American 
debut.  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  La  donna  e  mobile  sung  better  than  he 
gave  it.  Seated  at  the  table  in  Sparafuciles  hut,  he  tossed  up  the  playing  cards 
while  he  sang  the  air  in  the  nonchalant,  devil-may-care  way  which  suits  it 
precisely.  The  cadenza  he  gave  in  brilliant  style.  His  success  with  the 
audience  was  immediate.  Later  he  confirmed  it  in  "  Lucia  "  and  in  "  L'Elisir 
d'Amore,"  in  which  his  singing  of  the  romanza,  Unafurtiva  Lagri/na,  created 
a  genuine  furore.  The  first  time  he  was 
heard  here  in  "  Lucia  "  the  demonstration 
on  the  part  of  the  audience  after  the  sex- 
tet, when  the  tenor  seemed  unwilling  to 
have  the  number  repeated,  became  so 
noisy  that  the  policeman  in  the  lobby 
grabbed  his  nightstick  and  started  for  the 
auditorium,  fearing  there  was  a  panic. 
Before  he  reached  the  swinging  doors 
there  was  sudden  silence,  for  at  that 
moment  Vigna,  the  conductor,  had  rapped 
on  his  desk  for  the  encore.  The  news- 
paper accounts  of  this  demonstration  were 
not  exaggerated,  for  I  was  present  and 
saw  and  heard  it. 

CARUSO  is  thirty-three  years  old.  He 
was  born  in  Naples,  where  his  father  was 
a  mechanic.  He  himself  became  a  me- 
chanic and  worked  at  his  trade  until  the 
value  of  his  voice  was  discovered.  He  was 
a  good,  industrious  mechanic,  too ;  and 
when  he  gave  up  the  work,  he  was  re- 
ceiving two  lire  a  day  (about  forty  cents), 
a  good  wage  for  Italy.     As  a  boy  he  sang 


Copyright    photo,    by    Dupont. 


Copyright   photo.    by    Dupi 


in  church,  and  continued  doing  so  after  his 
voice  became  tenor.  The  highest  pay  he  re- 
ceived was  the  equivalent  of  three  dollars  for 
eight  services. 

VERGINE,  the  singing  master,  chanced  to 
hear  him,  and,  recognizing  the  fine  quality  of 
his   voice,  at   once   took   him    as  a  pupil.     His 
debut  was  made  in  [896  in  "  Traviata,"  at  the 
Fondo,  in  Naples,  and  was  very  successful.    Hut 
bis  real  artistic  career  began  with   bis   appear- 
ance  in    1S9S    at    La    Scala,  Milan,   where,  on 
his  reappearance,  when   he   was   heard    in  the 
first  performance  of  Giordano's  "Fedora,"  an 
Italian  critic  wrote,   "Caruso  canto  Fedora  e  hi 
Fe —  d'oro."  ("Caruso   sang    Fedora- — 'made 
of  gold5    -and    made   it   of  gold.  1    After  that 
he  sang  with  continued  success  in  Italy,  South 
America,  and  Russia,  and,  in   the   summer   of 
iyo^,  in  Covent  Garden,  London.     Then   he 
reached  the  golden  Mecca  of  all  opera  singers' 
hopes,  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House. 
IX   spite  of   his  great   success   he   is  a  modest 
man, punctillious  in  the  due  observance  of  stage  etiquette  toward  his  colleagues, 
and  very  popular  with  them  as  well  as  with  his  managers.     He  has  very  band- 
some  dark   eyes  ami,  though  a  trifle  stout   for  an  impressive  stage  appearance, 
has  an  agreeable  personality  that  makes  itself  felt  across  the  footlights.    He  has 
a  clever  knack  at  drawing  caricatures.     Mr.  Conried,  between  whom  and  him- 
self there  is  great  good   will  and  harmony,  having  criticised  his  costumes,  he 
drew  a  caricature  of  the  impresario,  whose  trousers  he  made   ridiculously    big. 
Underneath  it  be  wrote  that  the  trousers  were  so  ill-fitting   because  they    were 
drawn    by  him,  and   be   was  such  a  bad  dresser   that    he  could    not   even    draw- 
clothes  well.     He  has  been  decorated  by  the  Kings  of  Italy  and    Portugal,  but 
rarely  wears  bis  orders.      In   1901    he  sang  in    Treviso   and    Bologna    with    Ada 
Ciacchetti,  and  she  became  his  wife.     Thev  met  on  the  stage. 
THL  manner  in  which  Mr.  Conried  came  to  engage  Caruso  is    most    interest- 
ing.    When  be    became   (ban's   successor    be  made  up  bis  mind  that  the  time 
was   ripe   tor   a    revival  of  interest  in   Italian  opera.      Hut    where  was   the   tenor 
tor   the   experiment.      It    must   be   remembered    that    Conried  had   not  been  an 
impresario,  but  an  actor,  and  after  that  the  manager  of  a  German  stock  theatre. 
It    is   an    actual    tact    that   even    Caruso's    name    was   unknown  to    him.      So    he 
began  his  search  tor  a  tenor,  and  mark  how  cleverly  be  went  about  the  matter. 
I  If.  argued  that  if  you  were  to  ask  almost  anybody  vou  met  on  Broadway  who 
the  leading  American  actor  was,  the  answer  would  be  Mansfield.      By  analogy 
he  concluded  that  there  must  be  some    Italian    tenor   so    tar    above    his    fellows 
that    any    and    every    Italian    asked    tor    the  name  of  the  ereatest  liviii"    Italian 


tenor  would  answer  with  the  same  name.  So  he  put  on  his  hat  and  walked 
up  Broadway.  The  impresario  (as  yet  without  a  company)  strolled  along  until 
he  came  to  a  neat-looking  bootblack  stand,  seated  himself  there,  and  proceeded 
to  procure  an  unnecessary  shine,  all  in  the  interest  of  art  and  himself.  The 
proceedings  having  reached  that  stage  when  Tony  was  applying  the  paste,  the 
impresario  asked  casually,  "  Who  is  the  greatest  Italian  tenor?" 
TONY  looked  up,  and  without  hesitation  answered,  "  Caruso." 
THE  impresario  returned  to  his  office  and  pondered.  He  asked  one  of  his 
assistants  if  there  were  anything  relating  to  Caruso  in  the  office  records.  A 
contract  was  discovered  between  the  tenor  and  Grau  for  the  following  season, 
but  Grau's  retirement  had  vacated  it. 

CONRIED  pondered,  again.    Suddenly  it  occurred  to  him  that   there  was  an 
Italian    savings   bank    in    the    city,  and   forthwith    he  again    put    on    his    hat, 
walked  to  the  corner  of   Broadway  and 
jumped  on  a  car,   jumped   off  again   at 
Spring  street  and  walked   in   the  direc- 
tion  of  the    Bowery  until  he  saw   the 
bank's  sign  in  gold  lettering. 
CONRIED   introduced  himself  to  the 
president  of  the  bank,   Mr.  Francolini, 
and  then  asked  him  who  was  the  great- 
est living  Italian  tenor. 
"  Caruso,"  said  Francolini.     "And  what 
is  more,"  he  continued,  "the  secretary 
of  our  bank,  Mr.  Simonelli,  knows  him 
and  can  tell  you  all  about  him." 
THE  upshot  was  that,  after  a  chat  with 
Simonelli,  who  also   knew   the  singer's 
agent,   the  secretary    of  the    bank    was 
authorized    by    the  impresario    to   con- 
clude   an    engagement   with    the    tenor 
by  cable.     Thus  the  dictum  of  a  boot- 
black was  the  first  step   in   the  coming 
to   this  country  of  one  of  the  greatest 
singers  we  have  had  here. 


Copyright   photo,    by   Dupont. 


JEAN  AND  EDOUARD  DE  RESZKE 

NO  two  figures  are  more  notable  in  the  operatic  world  than  those  ol 
Jean  and  Edouard  I)e  Reszke.  Thev  stand  for  the  highest  achieve- 
ments in  their  respective  milieus — the  one  the  greatest  tenor  of  the 
day,  the  other  the  greatest  basso.  Jean  does  not,  indeed,  possess  a 
phenomenal  tenor  voice.  His  higher  notes  do  not  ring  out  with  the  resonant 
tenor  timbre  which  those  who  remember  Campanini  in  his  prime  can  recall 
so  well.  But  it  is  a  voice  of  great  beauty  and  exquisitely  managed,  and  to  the 
interpretation  of  every  role  he  brings  an  artistic  seriousness,  a  completeness  ot 
dramatic  conception,  which  give  it  the  significance  of  a  "creation."  More- 
over, "  Monsieur  jean"  is  associated  with  Wagnerian  performances  of  unequalled 
beauty,  and  thus  deserves  a  place  not  only  in  the  annals  of  opera,  but  in  the 
history  of  music  ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  ot  "Monsieur  Edouard." 
THE  De  Reszkes  were  born  in  Warsaw,  Poland;  Jean  in  January,  1852; 
Edouard  in  December,  1895.  Their  father  owned  a  hotel  there.  Both  par- 
ents were  passionately  fond  of  music,  and  the  mother  possessed  a  fine  soprano 
voice,  which  hid  been  trained  by  Garcia  and  Viardot.  It  is  worth  noting  that 
a  sister  ot  the  De  Reszkes,  Josephine,  who  died  in  1892,  was  a  distinguished 
prima  donna,  and  that  another  brother,  Victor,  is  said  to  possess  a  hue  tenor 
voice,  hut  remains  in  Poland  to  manage  the  large  estates  ot  the  two  brothers 
and  the  family.      A  family  ot   voices,  forsooth  ! 

AS  a  boy  Jean  sang  in  the  cathedral  choir  in  Warsaw.  But  he  was  destined 
for  the  bar,  and  after  his  school  days  began  his  law  studies.  In  these  he  is 
saiil  to  have  shown  the  same  conscientiousness  which  has  characterized  his 
artistic  career.  But  the  inspiration  which 
comes  from  the  love  ot  the  work  in  hand 
was  lacking.  He  was  ambitious  to  be- 
come an  opera  singer,  and  from  a  family 
so  musical  as  his  there  was  no  opposition. 
ACCORDINGLY,  he  went  to  Italy  and 
successively  became  a  pupil  ot  CiafFel  and 
CotOgni.  These  two  teachers  trained 
him  as  a  barytone,  and  it  was  as  such  ami 
under  the  Italianized  name  of  Reschi  that 
he  made  his  debut  as  Alfonso  in  Donizet- 
ti's "  Favorita "  in  Venice,  in  January, 
1  874.  lor  several  years  he  continued 
singing  barytone  roles,  and  in  such  was 
heard  in  Paris  and  London.  He  acquired 
a  large  barytone  repertory,  including  Don 
Giovanni  and  Valentine  in  "  Faust."  He 
was  the  barytone  at  the  [talien,  in  Paris, 
when  that  theatre  was  under  Maurel's 
A     friend    of    mine   who 


heard  him  sing  Valentine  there  tells  me  that  he 
was  not  very  line  in  the  role,  and  had  com- 
plained after  the  performance  of  the  great  fa- 
tigue he  suffered  after  each  appearance  in  opera. 
It  was  this  fatigue  which  first  led  him  to  the 
conclusion  that  his  voice  really  was  not  a  bary- 
tone, hut  a  tenor.  Moreover,  he  had  been  able 
in  singing  Alfonso  to  always  create  a  furore  with 
a  hisjh  A  natural   in   the  caldaletta   in   the  first 


aria. 


AT  all-  events,  a  famous  teacher,  Sbriglia,  urged 
him  to  abandon  singing  barytone,  assuring  him 
that  with  proper  training  he  could  become  a 
tenor.  Accordingly,  he  went  to  work  under 
Sbriglia,  and  in  1879  made  his  debut  as  a  tenor 
in  Madrid,  as  Robert,  in  Meyerbeer's  "  Robert 
le  Diable."  He  made  a  great  success.  He 
sang  at  the  Paris  Opera,  creating,  among  other 
roles,  Rodrigue,  in  Massenet's  "  Le  Cid."  From 
Paris  he  came  to  this  country  in  1889,  to  the 
Metropolitan  Opera  House,  and  he  has  been 
here  almost  every  season  since  then,  taking  part 
also  in  the  Covent  Garden  seasons.  In  1899  he  retired  for  a  year,  and  on  his 
reappearance  at  Covent  Garden  as  Faust  in  Gounod's  opera  he  broke  down  and 
it  was  feared  that  his  voice  was  permanently  impaired.  But  in  December  of 
the  same  year  (  1900)  he  returned  to  New  York  with  his  voice  completely  re- 
stored. His  finest  Wagnerian  rules  are  Lohengrin,  Siegfried,  in  the  music 
drama  oi'  that  name,  and  in  "  Gbtterdammerung,"  and  Tristan.  He  also  is  a 
notable  Faust,  Romeo,  Rhadames  and  Raoul. 

EDOUARD  DE  RESZKE  studied  agriculture  at  an  agricultural  college,  but 
he  too  broke  away  from  the  work  which  his  parents  had  chosen  for  him,  and 
studied  in  Italy  under  Colletti  and  Steller.  In  1  S 7 ^  he  went  to  Paris  with 
his  mother  and  his  sister  Josephine,  the  prima  donna.  He  sang  a  good  deal 
as  an  amateur  at  musicales,  and  when  Verdi  produced  "  Aida  "  in  Paris  and 
was  hunting  about  for  some  one  for  the  part  of  The  King,  Escudier,  the  con- 
ductor, who  had  heard  Edouard  sing  in  private,  said  to  the  composer:  "  Per- 
haps that  big  fellow,  Edouard  I)e  Reszke,  will  take  the  role."  When  Edouard 
received  the  proposition  he  consulted  with  his  sister.  "  (Jo  and  see  Verdi," 
she  said.  "  If  you  please  him  in  a  little  role,  it  may  lead  to  something  better." 
ACCORDINGLY,  Edouard  went  to  the  Hotel  de  Bade  and  called  on  Verdi. 
After  looking  him  over,  the  composer  asked,  "  Do  you  know  '  Aida'  ?"  Ed- 
ouard answered,  "  I  have  heard  it  in  Italy,  and  have  sung  all  the  roles  for  my 
own  amusement." 

"  The  female  ones,  too  r  "  asked  Verdi, 
THEN  thev  laughed,  and   the  next  day  Edouard  had  his  first  rehearsal-      He 


Teak  di    Reszke 


made  his  debut  in  April,  1876,  at  the  old  Theatre  des  Italiens,  at  the  first  pro- 
duction of  "  Aida  "  in  Paris,  which  Verdi  himself  conducted.  During  the 
first  entre  acte  the  composer  came  behind  the  scenes  and  said  to  Edouard  : 
"  My  friend,  you  look  more  like  the  son  than  the  father  of  Amneris,  but  you 
are  singing  very  well." 

EDOUARD'S  career  has  been  closely  identified  with  his  brother's.  They  are 
devoted  to  each  other.  Edouard  says  that  when  they  begin  to  study  in  the 
morning — for  like  true  artists  they  still  study  assiduously — Jean  sits  down  at 
the  piano  and  sings  "  Salve !  di  mora  !  '  Then  Edouard  exclaims,  "  Bad  ! 
Wry  bad  !  You  sing  like  a  pig  this  morning."  Then  he  sits  down  at  the 
piano  and  sings.      "  Bad!     Very  bad  !  "  exclaims    Jean.      "  You  sing  like  a  pig 

this   morning.      Perhaps   both  of   us  had  better  buy  hand- 
organs  and  try  to  make  a  living."      Then  they  both  laugh 
^~  and   go   to  work  seriously.      The   two  brothers  own   large 

m  ^  M  adjoining  estates  in  Poland,  where  Jean  maintains  a  racing 

W  -*»W  stable  which  is  well  known  on  the  Russian  turf.      He  has 

J|    ~2*    —  won  the  Warsaw  Derby  and  important  prizes  at  St.  Peters- 

burg. The  De  Reszke  colors  are  white  and  cherry. 
THE  stud  farm  is  at  Borowno,  near  Klomnice,  in  Russian 
Poland.  The  little  village  near  the  De  Reszke  chateau  is 
composed  almost  entirely  of  stable  hands  and  workmen  on 
the  De  Reszke  estates.  These  employees  are  accustomed, 
when  thev  meet  any  of  the  family  or  any  of  the  De  Reszke 
friends,  to  seize  their  hands  and  imprint  kisses  upon  them, 
and  it  is  a  difficult  matter  to  walk  anywhere  around  Bo- 
rowno or  the  other  De  Reszke  chateau  without  having 
your  hand  kissed  about  1  ^o  times  a  day.  There  is  a  large 
oval  for  exercising  the  horses  in  front  of  the  Borowno 
estate,  and  in  winter  a  smaller  one  is  shovelled  out  from  the 
snow.  jean  often  rises  early  in  the  morning  to  watch  the 
horses  exercise,  and  almost  invariably  takes  a  smart  canter 
himself. 

PERHAPS  nothing  gives  a  better  idea  of  the  vastness  of 
the  De  Reszke  estates  than  the  statement  that  there  is  one  potato  field  of 
1 0,000  acres.  Beyond  it  the  eve  sees  a  long  stretch  of  forest,  and  in  other 
directions  broad  expanses  of  waving  grain. 

BOROWNO  is  only  one  of  the  chateaux  owned  bv  the  tenor,  yet  the  land 
which  goes  with  it  is  said  to  be  twenty  times  the  acreage  of  Central  Park.  Of 
his  other  chateaux,  the  one  nearest  to  Borowno  is  Skrzydlow.  But  it  is  a  six- 
mile  ride.  M.  De  Reszke  reallv  lives  at  Skrzvdlow,  but  as  the  stud  farm  is 
located  at  Borowno,  he  spends  much  oi  his  time  there.  Other  chateaux  which 
he  owns  are  those  of  Chorzenice  and  Zdrowa.  There  are  even  more  acres  in 
these  chateaux  than  there  are  consonants,  and  it  is  said  that  it  would  require  a 
week  for  a  hunting  party  to  pass  through  the  wooded  portions  of  the  land 
which    M.    De    Reszke    and    his    brother    Edouard    own.      M.    Edouard    De 


EUOUAKII     DE     RSSZKE 


Reszke,  who,  during  his  brother's  bachelorhood  days,  lived  with  him  at  Bo- 
rowno,  now  has  a  charming  chateau  at  Garnek.  The  affection  still  continues 
in  the  relations  of  these  two  brothers  to  each  other,  and  they  are  very  fre- 
quently in  each  other's  company  during  their  holidays. 

THE  De  Reszke  chateaux  are  all  beautifully  located  a  little  south  of  Warsaw. 
The  River  Warra  runs  a  circuitous  route  through  these  estates,  and  winding  in 
and  out  makes  rich  pasture-land,  refreshes  the  forests  and  vivifies  the  country 
with  lakes  and  ponds.  Large  herds  of  cattle  graze  over  the  pasture-land,  and 
there  is  a  quantity  of  game  in  the  forests,  including  deer,  wild  turkey,  wolves 
and  wild   boars.      The   river  itself  and  its  numerous   little  tributaries,  and   the 

lakes  and   ponds  on   the  estates,  are  rilled  with  trout, 
carp,  perch  and  other  fish. 

M.  JEAN  DE  RESZKE  is  still  making  large  invest- 
ments in  real  estate.  He  is  very  fond  of  buying  up 
forests,  but  a  very  large  portion  of  the  land  is  culti- 
vated or  used  tor  pasturing,  and  he  rents  it  out  in 
farms.  In  addition  to  this  he  owns  a  large  cement 
mine,  which  vields  him  a  handsome  income. 
SKRZYDLOW,  where  M.  De  Reszke  lives,  is  a 
chateau  built  in  the  Polish  style.  This  means,  to  be- 
gin with,  that  it  is  only  one  story  high,  but  also  that 
it  is  very  roomy.  It  is  built  of  stone,  with  immensely 
thick  walls,  so  as  to  be  cool  in  summer  and  warm  in 
winter.  While  M.  De  Reszke  himself  has  not  been 
there  during  the  winter  for  a  number  of  years,  owing 
to  his  operatic  engagements,  Mme.  De  Reszke  is 
averse  to  crossing  the  ocean,  and  spends  at  least  a  part 
of  the  winter  on  her  husband's  estates. 
THE  interior  arrangements  of  the  chateau  at  Skrzyd- 
^^B^^  low  are  in  no  \\.i\    showy,    but    are  all  designed  to  add 

cheer  and  comfort  to  its  inmates.  The  music-room  is 
filled  with  souvenirs  of  the  great  tenor's  many  tri- 
umphs, none  of  which  he  values  so  much  as  that  given 
to  him  by  Queen  Victoria.  The  Queen  had  "  com- 
manded "  an  operatic  performance  at  Windsor,  but  M.  De  Reszke  had  been 
indisposed  and  could  not  take  part  in  it.  Instead  of  this  he  sang  a  few  selec- 
tions tor  the  Queen,  and  she  presented  him  with  a  huge  silver  tankard,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  the  handsomest  present  ever  made  by  her  outside  of  the 
royal  family. 

LIFE  at  Skrzydlow  is  extremely  simple.  M.  De  Reszke  breakfasts  at  about 
eight  o'clock.  The  morning  is  usually  spent  in  the  music-room  at  work  over 
some  score.  He  dines  at  noon.  In  the  afternoon  he  drives  or  hunts.  Hunt- 
ing parties  are  one  of  the  greatest  diversions  of  his  summer  rest,  and  at  Bo- 
rowno  he  has  built  a  lodge,  which  he  calls,  in  compliment  to  the  American 
public,   "  Cottage   Americaine,"  in  which    he  has    his   hunting   head-quarters. 


One  room,  called  the  "  Hunters'  Den,''  has 
comfortable     lounges    and     is     finished    in 

stamped  Russian  leather.  '1  here  is  a  huge 
fireplace,  in  which  only  logs  or"  apple-wood 
are    used,    because   of   their    soft,    agreeable 


Light. 


BOROW'NO  is  where  M.  De  Reszke  lived 

for  many  years  before  he  was  married,  and 
it  is  with  this  place  his  friends  usually  asso- 
ciate him.  It  was  built  in  the  time  of 
Louis  XV.,  and  it  is  a  combination  of 
French  and  Russian  architecture. 
M.  DE  RESZKE  never  has  accepted  an 
engagement  to  sing  at  a  private  musicale, 
at  least  I  never  have  heard  of  his  doing  so. 
"M.  Edouard"  did  so  once  during  bis  first 
season  here,  but  never  again.  For  he  was 
treated  not  as  a  guest,  but  as  a  hired  pro- 
fessional. The  De  Reszkes  are  princes  of 
opera  and  their  estates  are  princely — be- 
yond those,  perhaps,  of  any  American  millionnaire.  No  one  is  justified  in 
treating  them  otherwise  than  as  guests  in  his  own  house. 


N 


Lillian  Nokdica  as  Ism  hi; 


M.   Saleza  as   Rhadames 


M    Saleza  as  Rodolphe  in  La  Bohemi 


M      S  VLEZA    AS    Romeo 


v                 '  ^H 

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^                       gfc  J 

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M.   Saleza  as  Don-  Jose  in  Carmen 


A I  Itl  i;i     Sui'm    is-    S  \i  \\i  mho 


Johanna  Gadski  as  Buunniiilde 


/i  I  u:    DE    LUSSAN    AS    CARMEN 


LUCIENNE    BREVAL    IN     SaLAMMBO 


I.ll  II  .N  M      II|;l  \  Al      IN     I.K    ClD 


M.    Pl.AXi.ciN    AS    Mephistopheles 


M     Plancon  as   Mephistophei  :  - 


M.   Plani  i  IN 


M.     Pl.ANC.OX     AS     EsiAMILLO 


M.     I  'l   \Nt.i  in     as    Mei'H  [STOrill  I  I 


Mii.ka   Ternina 


Emma   Eames  as  Ei.sa 


Sic.  Scorn  in  Don  Giovanni 


Nellie  Mklua  as  Marguerite 


Eknkst  Van  Dyck  as  Siecmund 


Ernest   Van    Dyck   as   Tristan- 


I.km  sn    Van    Dyck    \      I  >,    -,  n        i 


Suzanne  Adams   as   Marguerite 


Suzanne    ^dams 


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■i^msmbmbp 


David  Bispham  as  Kurwenai 


David   Bispham 


I'i   mi  \m    AS   W'"i  ii;  \m 


Bispham    \     •  1 1 1 1  i ■  1 1 


Olive    Fremstad 


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A I  NO    A I  KTE 


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Marcella  Semukicii 


Lilli  Lekmann 


I. hi. i  Lehmann  as  Isolde 


Lilli  Lehmann  as  Brunnhilde 


I   DO!    VH R]     /l.l     AS    I  [ACEN 


Jean-   de  Reszke  as  Tristan 


Em  M.\    I   a  I  .  i  i    \  KM  K.N 


Si  san   Strong  as  Sieglinde 


Fri  i/I    Si  iieff 


Carrie  Bridewell 


Louise  Homer 


Mi  1 1 ■'.    Bauermi  i    in 


\l  VRC  MM  i     \l\H\n  RE 


Sibyi.   Sanderson 


]  li:i;k    \   \.\     K 


\\m;i  \-    I  Mi  ri  i 


Maurice  Grau 


Hf.INRICH     CuiNRIED 


OPERA-SINGERS    OFF    DUTY 

ASK  a  prima  donna  to  tell  you  when  opera-singers  are  off  duty  and 
have  opportunity  to  enjoy  themselves.  Her  answer  will  he, 
"  Never." 
IT  is  a  tact  that  opera-singers  rarely  find  opportunity  to  see  even 
each  other  in  a  social  way,  except  when  the  company  is  on  tour,  making  a 
"  kangaroo  jump  "  in  a  special  train.  During  the 
season  in  New  York  there  is  hut  little  chance  for 
visiting  or  other  diversions.  Even  it  there  were, 
the  care  a  singer  has  to  take  ot  her  voice  hedges 
her  around  with  restrictions  which  tew  ordinary 
mortals  appreciate.  No  memhers  of  the  company 
would,  tor  instance,  think  ot  calling  on  Mine. 
Eames  on  a  day  when  she  has  to  sing.  They  know 
she  wants  to  save  her  voice.  Probably  the  next 
day  the  other  prima  donnas  are  to  sing  at  a  matinee 
or  evening  performance,  and  Mine.  Eames  would 
not  think  of  calling  on  them. 

BUT  when  the  company  is  on  tour  in  its  own 
special  train,  or  in  Chicago,  where  they  sing  in  the 
Auditorium,  and  most  ot  them  reside  in  the  Audi- 
torium Hotel,  there  is  some  little  opportunity  for 
social  amenities.  Even  then,  when  they  meet,  the  topic  of  conversation  is  apt 
to  be  how  little  enjoyment,  in  the  ordinary  sense  ot  the  word,  an  opera-singer 
gets  out  of  life.  On  days  when  there  is  no  performance  or  rehearsal  she  has 
to  brush  up  her  roles  with  an  accompanist  at  the  piano.  It  she  has  an  engage- 
ment at  the  photographer's  to  be  taken  in  costume — that  means  halt  a  das- 
posing.  Then  there  is  a  stack  ot  letters  to  he  read  and  answered  for  thrown 
into  the  waste-basket) — most  ot  them  from  girls,  would-be  prima  donnas,  who 
want  to  come  and  sing  for  the  great  artist  and  hear  her  opinion  ot  their  voices. 
A  walk,  a    little   drive   to   get  a  breath  of  air — that    perhaps   sums   up  a   prima 

donna's  modicum  ot  enjoyment  on  an  off-duty  day. 
I  ONCE  read  an  account  ot  the  care  that  was  taken 
of  a  certain  millionaire  baby,  and  I  thought  what 
a  poor  time  it  must  have.  An  opera-singer  i^  a 
good  deal  like  that  baby.  A  slight  cold,  that  ordi- 
nary mortals  would  not  know  they  hail,  incapacitates 
her ;  so  it  can  be  imagined  how  careful  she  miht 
be  that  weather  conditions  are  just  right  when  she 
ventures  out.  In  tact,  her  whole  mode  ot  lite  must 
be  regulated  with  regard  to  the  preservation  ol  her 
voice.  Mme.  Nordica  once  said  to  me,  "  I  am  so 
trained  to  eat  what  I  don't  want,  that  I  don't  miss 
what  I  want." 


Calve  in   //;<•   Great  in   Desert 


Plancon,  Fritsi  Schefl  and  I  douard  dc  Retskt 


MANY  prima  donnas,  on  nights  when  they 
are  not  singing,  retire  as  early  as  half-past 
seven  or  eight  o'clock.  That  is  hardly  con- 
ducive  to  social  dissipation.  It  accounts  for 
the  fact  that  opera-singers  hear  so  few  per- 
formances ot  opera  trom  the  front  of  the 
house.  An  accompanist  for  one  ot  the  best- 
known  Wagnerian  prima  donnas  once  told 
me  that  she  had  never  heard  a  Wagner  per- 

.ln  Impromptu   Rehearsal  r  r  i      r  ,1        r       .    %•    1   .  v 

'       '  tormance  rrom  betore  the  toot-hght.s.     l  ou 

rarely  see  any  singers  of  the  company  at  the  Metropoli- 
tan in  the  audience.  It  is  only  when  stage  and  hotel  are 
so  near  together  as  at  the  Auditorium  in  Chicago  that  a 
prima  donna  will  occasionally  slip  trom  the  hotel  into  a 
secluded  nook  of  one  ot  the  boxes  and  hear  a  perform- 
ance. As  Mme.  Fames  expresses  it,  lite  at  the  Audito- 
rium is  a  good  deal  like  lite  on  board  ship.  You  pass 
trom  the  hotel  to  the  theatre  as  you  would  from  your 
state-room  to  the  salon  or  deck.  There,  too,  the  mem- 
bers ot  the  company  have  some  chance  to  see  each  other 
and  enjoy  themselves. 

AT  the  little  social  gatherings  which  they  arrange 
among  themselves  no  members  of  the  troupe  are  more 
welcome  than  the  De  Reszke  brothers.  These  two 
great  singers  know  how  to  throw  aside  stage  heroics  and 
unbend  when  it  comes  to  an  evening's  amusement. 
BOTH  have  a  great  faculty  for  imitating  people  and 
animals.  Jean  is  especially  gifted  in  the  latter  line. 
Mme.  Nordica  tells  a  capital  anecdote  to  illustrate  the 
tenor's  skill   in   "imitations"    of   animal    voices.      Some 

seasons  ago  she  had  a  French  poodle  ot  which  she  was 
very  fond.  One  evening  she  and  her  husband,  Mr. 
Doehme,  went  to  the  Opera  House,  leaving  the  poodle 
in  charge  of  a  maid. 

TO  their  great  surprise,  on  entering  the  dressing-room 
at  the  Opera  House,  thev  heard  the  poodle's  quick, 
sharp  bark.  Mme.  Nordica  called  her  pet  by  name, 
but  it  did  not  respond.  The  barking  was  repeated, 
seeming  to  come  trom  under  the  piano.  She  looked 
there,  and  what  should  she  discover  but  Jean  De 
Reszke  on  all-fours!  Do  you  wonder  that  she  and 
her  husband  were  convulsed  with  laughter  r  Imagine 
Tristan  barking;  Siegfried  oi  "  Gotterdammerung  "  in 
the  role  ot  a  French  poodle ;  Lohengrin  on  all-fours 
under  a  piano  ! 


Melba    ot)'    the    Stage 


Walter    I  lamrosch    as    ( '1  >ndu 


\tard  iL-  Resske  tnal  Fritsi  Schcff 


EDOUARD  DE  RESZKE,  that  large,  dignified- 
looking  basso,  lias  a  special  knack  of  imitating 
musical  instruments  and  their  players.  Mine. 
Eames  says  it  is  simply  marvellous  to  hear  him 
imitate  a  'cello.  He  produces  with  his  voice  the 
exact  tone  quality  of  the  instrument  throughout 
its  entire  range.  But  he  is  such  a  good  actor  that 
he  cannot  imitate  the  instrument  unless  he  assumes 
the  exact  position  of  a  'cello-player,  with  the  ringers 
of  one  hand  on  imaginary  strings,  while  the  other 
hand  apparently  guides  the  bow. 
THE  devotion  ot"  the  De  Reszke  brothers  to  each 
other  is  well  known,  and  their  intimate  friends 
say  it  is  charming  to  hear  them  urging  each  other 
to  show  oft".  "Now,  Jean,"  Edouard  will  say, 
"give  us  your  clever  imitation  of  a  monkey;  "  and  Jean,  anxious  not  to  dis- 
appoint his  brother,  will  proceed  to  comply  with  his  request  in  a  realistic 
manner  that  convulses  everyone  present.  Having  done  so,  he  will  turn  to  the 
basse)  and  exclaim,  "  Edouard,  you  must  show  us  how  Pteiftenschneider  plays 
the  trombone  in  the  death  scene  in  the  '  Gotterdammerung.' '  There  is  a 
saying  in  the  company  that  Edouard  is  a  whole  orchestra  in  himself,  and  that 
it"  he  could  imitate  at  one  and  the  same  time  all  the  instruments  which  he  can 
give  separately,  Mr.  Grau  could  dispense  with  the  band. 

HOWEVER,  these  two  brothers  are  interesting  in  other  ways,  and  artists  of 
the  company  say  that  a  most  profitable  evening  can  be  spent  with  them,  hear- 
ing them  discuss  the  serious  side  of  their  art.  Mrs.  Story  (Mine.  Eames)  has 
sung  so  many  years  in  the  same  company  with  the  two  Polish  artists  that  she 
and  Mr.  Story  have  become  very  intimate  with  them,  and  when  on  tour  the 
four  often  dine  and  spend  the  evening  together.  In  tact,  the  Storys  regard  the 
De  Reszkes  as  if  they  were  their  brothers. 

MME.  CALVE  is  a  good  deal  of  a  mystic.  On  her  mantel-shelf  she 
lias  a  statue  of  Buddha  as  a  decorative  accessory.  She  believes  in  a  previous 
state  of  existence.  Evidence  of  this  belief  is  found  in  a  remark  once  made 
by  her  to  a  sister  prima  donna,  who  has  an  extraordinarily  large  repertoire. 

SAID  Mme.  Calve  to  her  one  day: 
"Think  of  my  good  hick  in  having  made 
one  opera  so  completely  my  own  that  I 
hardly  ever  have  to  sin»r  anything  else  ! 
It  is  in  my  own  language,  too.  There 
you  are,  obliged  to  sing  in  three  languages 
in  order  to  keep  up  your  repertoire.  Moil 
Dieu !  how  you  have  to  work!  Perhaps 
in    your    former   existence  VOU  had  a  ven 


1 

BJr, 

If"       .,'.    J 

■■■■■■            sn 

easy    time 
make    up 


ot 
tor 


it, 
it 


ami 
or 


now     \  mi    have    t>  i 
perhaps    \  ou    w  ere 


,n  .t.iii,      \danu  ai  a  i  o 


Ami    as    1/    Locomotive    Engineer 


very  wicked  and  are  now  atoning  for  it."  This  was  all 
said  in  absolute  seriousness ;  but  fortunately  the  other 
prima  donna  was  more  amused  than  offended  at  the 
point  ot~  view.  Imputations  upon  acts  committed  during 
one's  "former  existence"  are  not  apt  to  cause  much 
worry. 

A  FAVORITE  diversion  of  Mme.  Calve  is  to  hold 
spiritualistic  seances  in  her  rooms,  with  other  members 
of  the  company  as  her  guests.  One  evening  in  Chicago 
she  rushed  into  the  room  of  one  of  the  other  prima 
donnas  and  excitedly  begged  her  and  her  husband  to 
come  to  her  apartments,  as  she  was  expecting  a  "  splen- 
did medium." 

HALF-PAST  eight,  the  hour  appointed  for  the  seance, 
came,  but  no  medium;  then  half-past  nine,  halt-past  ten,  and  still  no  medium. 
The  other  prima  donna's  husband  thought  it  about  time  to  question  Carmen 
regarding  the  medium's  identity.  "What  was  his  name?"  "Moses." 
"Moses?"  "Yes."  "Nothing  more?"  "No,  just  Moses."  Further 
inquiry,  this  time  extended  to  the  hotel  office,  elicited  the  fact  that  Mme. 
Calve  had  asked  the  clerk  if  there  were  any  good  mediums  in  Chicago,  and 
had  been  told  of  one  who  was  said  to  be  "as  good  as  Moses." 
WITH  her  imperfect  knowledge  of  English  she  had  misunderstood  the 
remark,  and  had  addressed  a  letter,  making  an  appointment,  to  "  Moses, 
Chicago."      Small  wonder  that  Moses  did  not  materialize  ! 

THE  season  in  Chicago  once  over,  the  members  of  the  company  have  little 
opportunity  to  see  each  other  when  off  the  stage,  except  while  travelling  in 
the  special  train  during  the  rest  of  the  tour  preliminary  to  the  long  season  in 
New  York.  There  may  be  on  the  train  an  occasional  exhibition  of  the  "  if 
Mme.  So-and-so  doesn't  come  into  my  state-room  I  sha'n't  go  into  hers" 
feeling  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  tour  is  the  occasion 
of  much  pleasant  intercourse. 
DURING  one  season's  tour  Mme.  Nordica  and 
Mr.  Doehme,  Mme.  Sembrich  and  her  husband 
(Professor  Stengl),  Herr  and  Frau  Dippel,  and 
Herr  and  frau  Schumann-Heink  were  much 
together,  and  played  many  hands  at  whist  and 
other  card  games.  At  meal  hours  the  dining- 
car  was,  from  a  linguist's  point  of  view,  like 
the  Tower  of  Babel.  The  air  was  filled  with 
a  polyglot  of  German,  Polish,  French,  Italian, 
and  English.  Some  singers  like  to  prepare  cer- 
tain delicacies  for  themselves.  Mme.  Nordica 
is  especially  fond  of  Vienna  coffee.  She  has  a 
machine  in  which  she  brews  this  delightful  bev- 
erage tor  herself  and  her  friends.      Signor  Cam- 


Plancon,   Max   Hirsch   and  Salignac 


.!/;■.  Grau  Explains 


panari  probably  carries  his  liking  for  a  special 
dish  farther  than  any  other  artist  of  the  company. 
He  has  with  him  a  small  machine  tor  the  manu- 
facture of  spaghetti,  and  another  apparatus  tor 
cooking  it,  so  that  he  both  makes  and  prepares 
this  delicacy.  A  baritone  spaghetti  factory  is  a 
rare  phenomenon,  even  for  an  opera  company. 
THE  company  has  had  many  amusing  experiences 
on  its  tours,  but  none  more  so  than  in  Kansas 
City.  It  was  booked  for  three  performances 
there  —  on  a  Monday  night  and  the  following 
afternoon  and  evening— in  the  huge  Convention 
Hall,  which  has  a  seating  capacity  of  25,000. 
THE  company  reached  Kansas  City  on  Monday  morning,  but  by  about  eleven 
o'clock  had  made  its  way  to  the  hall.  There  a  startling  condition  of' 
affairs  was  discovered.  Up  to  the  previous  Saturday  night  the  hall  had  been 
used  tor  a  horse  show,  and,  except  that  the  horses  had  been  removed,  it  was 
in  exactly  the  same  condition  as  when  the  show  had  closed.  A  large  part  of 
the  building  was  divided  into  stalls,  and  the  whole  floor  was  covered  with 
tan-bark.  There  was  no  stage,  no  proscenium,  no  suggestion  of  apparatus  for 
setting  and  shifting  scenery,  and  not  a  seat  in  the  whole  house. 
YET  "Faust"  was  to  be  given  there  that  night.  Under  even  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances it  required  quick  work  to  have  the  scenery  and  baggage  transferred 
from  the  station  to  the  hall  in  time  for  the  performance.  But  here  was  the 
hall  itself,  absolutely  barren  ot  every  theatrical  suggestion,  to  be  converted 
before  evening  into  an  opera-house.  Mr.  Grau  had  sold  out  the  performances 
to  the  local  management,  and  they  in  turn  had  sold  tickets  within  the  widest 
possible  radius  of  Kansas  City.  It  is  said  that  tickets  tor  these  three  perform- 
ances were  sold  in  eight  States,  and  that  people  came  from  as  far  as  Montana 
and    North    Dakota.      Of  course  it  would  not  do  to  disappoint   such  a  public. 

It  mi<j;ht  shoot.  Horse  show  or  no  horse  show 
the  week  before,  there  had  to  be  opera  that  night. 
What  was  left  of  the  horse  show  must  be  a\\\^  out. 
THE  first  thine  that  was  done  by  the  Grau  forces 
was  to  engage  thirty  mule-carts  and  colored  men 
to  rake  and  dig  up  the  tan-bark  and  dirt  ami  cart 
them  away.  Meanwhile  a  small  army  ol  stage 
hands  was  extemporizing  a  rigging-loft  tor  work- 
ing the  scenery  on  the  iron  girders  oi  the  build- 
ing; carpenters  were  putting  up  the  stage  and  the 
proscenium,  and  hastily  throwing  together  .1  se! 
of  dressing-rooms,  that  resembled  a  row  ol  bath 
ing-houses  at  a  second-rate  summer  resort.  It 
looked  as  it  a  circus,  instead  of  the  greatest  opera 
Organization    in    the    world,  hail    struck    the  town, 


Schumann  Ilcink   and   Plant  on 


An   Opera  Company  in   Arizona 


and  as  if,  instead  of  "  Faust,"  "Carmen,"  and  "  II 
Barbiere,"  there  was  to  be  a  three-ring  show, 
with  bare-back  riding,  Hying  trapeze,  "  brother  " 
acts,  and  "vaudeville  on  the  side." 
A  HOST  of  women  was  also  set  to  work  at  sew- 
ing-machines, sewing  strips  oi  canvas  together, 
until  they  formed  a  carpet  large  enough  to  cover 
a  floor  space  sufficient  for  5,000  chairs.  This  was 
to  hide  the  last  remnants  of  the  horse  show,  which 
even  the  thirty  mule-carts  and  their  drivers  had 
been  unable  to  obliterate.  Then  9,000  seats  were 
procured,  and  put  in  place  on  the  floor  and  one  of 
the  galleries. 

THAT  night  every  one  ot  these  9,000  chairs  was 
occupied,  by  an  audience  some  of  whom  had  come 
a  thousand  miles.  Nearly  27,000  people  attended  the  three  performances, 
and  the  enthusiasm  was  immense. 

WHEN  the  company  visits  college  towns  it  is  rarely  necessary  to  hire  supers. 
The  students  are  only  too  glad  to  take  their  place,  and  are  usually  willing  to 
pay  tor  the  privilege.  Even  women  will  offer  money  for  the  chance,  and  are 
perfectly  willing  to  wear  costumes  which  have  been  worn  over  and  over 
again  by  the  regular  supers,  so  great  is  their  curiosity  to  get  behind  the 
scenes.  Half  an  hour  before  the  performance  begins  this  opera  militia  reports 
for  duty,  and  stage-manager  Rigo  puts  the  "  Carmen  "  soldiers  through  a  little 
drill. 

THERE  is  only  one  difficulty  about  these  volunteers.  They  like  to  carry  off 
part  ot  their  costume  or  some  convenient  "  prop  "  as  souvenirs.  During  a 
Boston  season,  Mr.  Rigo  one  midnight  saw  a  part  of  a  "  Faust  "  suit  of  armor 
walking  across  the  Common.  He  promptly  seized  it,  and  under  it  found  a 
student  who  had  been  acting  as  super  in  the  opera  at  the  Boston  Theatre  that 
night.  He  evidently  had  grabbed  the  armor  at  the  last  moment  before  leaving 
the  theatre,  for  it  was  fastened  over  his  overcoat.  Had  he  worn  it  under  the 
coat,  he  would  have  escaped  observation  and  capture.  But  a  piece  of  "  Faust  " 
armor  crossing  the  Boston  Common  at  midnight  was  too  much  for  Mr.  Rigo. 
Not  being  a  Bostonian,  he  did  not  take 
the  apparition  for  one  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  come  to  lite  again,  and  so 
nabbed  it  and  recovered  the  armor.  It 
is  said  that  some  S300  worth  of  cos- 
tumes and  properties  is  carried  off  by 
amateur  supers  in  the  course  ot  a  season. 
Yet,  on  the  whole,  there  is  economy  in 
employing  them. 

I    HAVE   now   told   how   some  of   the 
leading  members  of  the  opera  company 


David   Bispham   on   a  Handcar 


enjoy  themselves  during  their  tew  leisure  hours,  and  of  some  of  the  amusing 
incidents  of  an  opera  company  on  tour.  But  I  have  vet  to  speak  of  the  man- 
ager's recreation.  How  about  Mr.  Grau  ?  Where  does  his  fun  come  in  ? 
Apparently  only  in  paving  the  piper. 


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